Luka Doncic MVP Odds: Lakers Superstar Is Intriguing Choice After Improved Fitness

Can Luka Doncic win his first NBA MVP?

Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic is +650 to win MVP next season. / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic entered the 2024-25 season as the favorite to win the league's MVP award, but his chances of doing so evaporated pretty quickly due to a calf injury that he suffered on Christmas Day.

That, and Doncic's trade to the Los Angeles Lakers brought out some ugly stories from the Dallas Mavericks organization that questioned Doncic's physical fitness and long-term ability to play at the highest level.

Doncic was limited to just 50 games in the 2024-25 season, and he did not reach the peak form he had in the 2023-24 campaign when he took Dallas to the NBA Finals.

So, last season, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander ended up capturing his first league MVP award instead, but now Doncic has a renewed case ahead of the 2025-26 season.

In a recent interview with Men's Health magazine, Doncic shared some of the strides he's made physically this offseason. The Lakers star is eligible to sign a contract extension this offseason, and he already looks like a slimmer, improved version of himself.

That's saying something, too, since Doncic is already one of the 10-best players in the NBA.

“Just visually, I would say my whole body looks better,” Doncic told Men's Health magaine.

So, in the 2025-26 season, Doncic may have a real case to win MVP. He's currently third in the odds behind SGA and Nikola Jokic at +650 at DraftKings Sportsbook. Doncic failed to capture the MVP in the 2023-24 season despite averaging 33.9 points, 9.2 rebounds and 9.8 assists per game, but it's hard to see him getting passed up if he can reach those numbers in the 2025-26 season.

The Lakers star also helped the team earn the No. 3 seed in the West last season, and a repeat of that success in a loaded Western Conference would go a long way towards him earning his first MVP.

Doncic also seems extremely motivated to have a big season in his first full campaign in L.A. He told Men's Health that he wanted to start training as soon as Los Angeles was bounced in the first round of the playoffs last season.

“So every summer I try my best to work on different things," Doncic said. "Obviously, I'm very competitive. This summer was just a little bit different, you know. It kind of motivated me to be even better.”

If Doncic can stay in shape -- and stay healthy -- he has a level that very few players can reach in today's NBA. While there are going to be other candidates to win MVP -- mainly Jokic and SGA -- Doncic is as good a bet as any at +650.

He's finished in the top eight in the MVP voting in five of his first seven seasons, including a third-place finish in the 2023-24 campaign.

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