NBA MVP Race: Mavs' Luka Doncic Enters Top 5
The MVP conversation has been heating up as of late with many of the top candidates facing off in head-to-head matchups. One player continuing to forge his way into consideration is Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic.
On NBA.com's latest MVP ladder, the usual names remain in the top five including Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Ja Morant. However, Luka Doncic has passed Jayson Tatum to stake his claim in the top of the conversation.
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It's hard to argue against Doncic being in the MVP conversation at this point. With averages of 28.2 points, 9.3 rebounds, and 8.6 assists while leading a team in real contention for home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, his production has been incredible.
Names like Jayson Tatum and DeMar DeRozan had moved past Doncic on the previous edition of NBA.com's MVP leaderboard, but he has since passed them up.
Aside from Jokic, the team success of the other top candidates has been key in their own candidacies. It will be crucial for the Mavericks to pass up both the Utah Jazz and Golden State Warriors in the standings before the regular season ends if Doncic wants a legitimate chance of taking home the hardware.
The Warriors will be without Curry for at least the next two weeks, but it could end up being longer. It wouldn't be easy to make up ground on Golden State at this stage, however, given the Mavericks trail by 3.5 games currently.
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Doncic has entered each of his last few seasons in the MVP conversation, and some have even considered him to be the front-runner. The slow start due to conditioning issues after having such high expectations has made an impact on his MVP outlook for this season.
There's a strong chance Doncic can win an MVP with relative ease if he can hit the ground running from start-to-finish going forward, as opposed to catching fire later in the year. But with the Mavericks now playing high-level defense and Doncic having more talent around him, it would be a mistake to count him out just yet.
