If you look at the numbers, Mavericks star Luka Doncic is easily the NBA’s MVP frontrunner. With averages of 33.5 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 8.6 assists on 50.5% shooting, he has done a little of everything for Dallas this season.
But if you ask ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins, Luka Doncic is not on his MVP ballot at all. As the former NBA big man said on ‘NBA Today’ this week, players must be on winning teams for him to consider them for MVP.
“Not only do you have to have great individual numbers, but your team has to be winning. Your team can’t be sitting at the number 9th or 10th spot with a .500 record and you expect him to be in the MVP conversation. It’s just not how it works. Luka has been doing his thing individually, but last time I checked your team has to have success and be up in the top tier as well.”
Luka Doncic is NOT a top-five MVP candidate according to @KendrickPerkins 😳
"Last time I checked… your team has to have success and be up in the top tier as well." pic.twitter.com/Tb1bNzw2CO
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) November 30, 2022
Historically, MVP winners have usually been awarded to players on teams near the top of the standings. It’s hard to make a case for being the league’s most valuable player, after all, if you keep losing. Still, there is precedent for MVPs not being on title-contending teams.
So if Luka can somehow stop the bleeding and start stringing together some wins, Perkins and others might give him some more serious consideration for MVP. Until then, nobody will be convinced.
Luka Doncic Facing Criticism For Ball-Centric Play Style Amid Mavericks Struggles
Perhaps the biggest gripe with Luka is simply how much he needs the ball in his hands to be effective. With one of the highest usage rates in NBA history, Doncic pretty much single-handedly controls the Mavericks’ offense when he’s on the floor.
Sometimes, that strategy can pay off when Luka, or any of the shooters spacing the floor around him, gets hot enough to win a game. For the most part, though, it holds the team back from offensive creativity. It’s something Charles Barkley recently alluded to on ‘Inside the NBA.’
“He’s got to learn to play without the ball. Me and Shaq have been saying this. They can’t win,” Barkley said. “Like, he’s a great player but he’s going to have to learn to play without the ball, give it up more. He’s got Powell and those other guys just waiting on him to do everything. Those guys want to see what Luka’s going to do. But y’all in the NBA too, y’all can play. They’re never going to win a championship right now the way they play because it’s all Luka, all the time.”
The Dallas Mavericks are 10-10 on the season, and it’s easy to see why. As a team that goes as far as Doncic goes, his off nights are the days when it’s impossible for Dallas to win.
So even as great as Doncic has been, and where the Mavs would be without him, the overall team success just isn’t there to justify an MVP campaign. Right now, guys like Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jayson Tatum, and even Devin Booker are playing in such a way that exemplifies the greatest attributes of everyone on the team.
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