The NBA MVP voting is broken, and Luka Doncic is unfairly paying the price

Last season, the Dallas Mavericks had their best season in the Luka Doncic era.

Despite hovering around play-in territory in January and February, the Mavs were able to put together a magical run down the stretch to grab the No. 5 seed and later reach the NBA Finals. Dallas’ trades for Daniel Gafford and PJ Washington undoubtedly helped give them the boost they needed to get back on track, but Doncic’s play is what really helped them dominate last season.

He averaged 33.9 points, 9.2 rebounds, 9.8 assists and 1.4 steals per game. game while shooting 48.7 percent from the field and 38.2 percent from downtown. Doncic’s vast improvement as a shooter, historic performances that included a 73-point game, league-leading 21 triple-doubles and overall offensive command dazzled the NBA and helped the Mavs be as good as they were, but it still wasn’t enough for Doncic to win MVP.

Doncic shockingly finished third in the MVP voting, behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic. While both Jokic and Gilgeous-Alexander had incredible seasons, the NBA had never seen a season like Doncic just had. Doncic won the scoring title, became the first player in NBA history to average 33 points, nine rebounds and nine assists per game in a season, and set the NBA record for consecutive 30-point triple-doubles with six, yet was not enough.

MVP goalposts keep moving, and Doncic is paying the price

Voters seemed concerned that Doncic’s team was the No. 1 seed. 5 in the Western Conference, while Gilgeous-Alexander’s and Jokic’s teams were respectively no. 1 and 2 seeds, and Doncic’s run at the end of the season wasn’t enough to qualify him. an MVP in the eyes of the voters.

Even though Doncic isn’t having as big a season this season as he did last year, the goalposts for MVP have seemed to have moved again.

Despite the fact that he is no. The 6 seed in the Western Conference and his team off to an extremely slow start to the season, Jokic is almost unanimously at the top of most MVP rankings right now. Although his stats are excellent as he averages 31.0 points, 13.0 points and 9.8 assists per game. match, the team’s success has not been remarkable.

At one point this month, the Nuggets were the ninth seed in the Western Conference and were 10-8. They have been better recently as they are now no. 6 seed, but still, that doesn’t change the fact that Denver isn’t one of the top seeds in the Western Conference, and Jokic appears to be the runaway MVP favorite right now.

This is not to take away from Jokic’s outstanding statistical season as he seems to dominate every single night, but it is to point out that the criteria of the voters seems to have changed again. Jokic isn’t being docked at all because of the lack of team success that Denver has had, while voters didn’t even look at Doncic’s historic season last year, where he nearly averaged a 34-point triple-double, and his team won 50 games in a loaded Western Conference.

Jokic’s Nuggets are on a 45.92-game winning streak right now, nearly four games back from the season the Mavs had last season, and it still looks like he’s most people’s MVP right now. This doesn’t mean Doncic should be the MVP right now, as he’s had a ton of injuries and didn’t start the season strong, but Mavericks fans should be furious that MVP voters’ minds continue to change when it comes to what they are looking for the most.

Doncic’s stats this season could end up being extremely similar to what we saw from Jokic last season, and even if he gets healthy and helps the Mavs finish with a top seed, it doesn’t look like he’ll even be considered for this price.

Fans just want consistency at this price, and what’s happened over the last few years has been miles away from that.