Luka Doncic's MVP Chances Rise as Red-Hot Mavs Climb in West Standings

The Dallas Mavericks are 9-1 over their last 10 games, and they're knocking on the door of home-court advantage in the Western Conference standings. If this trend continues, it will be hard to vote against Luka Doncic for the league's MVP award.

With 10 games remaining in the regular season, we have officially reached a point where Luka Doncic should be receiving more buzz for potentially winning his first league MVP award. It goes without saying that the award Doncic wants more than anything is the Larry O'Brien Trophy, but winning MVP in the NBA is always a staple in the most elite players' resumes.

After throttling the Sacramento Kings 132-96 on Tuesday night, the Mavs moved into sole possession of the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference standings and are now just one game back of the New Orleans Pelicans at the No. 5 seed and 1.5 games back of the Los Angeles Clippers at the No. 4 seed (essentially 2.5 games back given that the Clippers own the regular-season tiebreaker over the Mavs).

Given how bad the Mavs' injury luck was in the first half of this season, it's almost a minor miracle that they're even sniffing home-court advantage in the playoffs. This is a team game, and players like Kyrie Irving, Daniel Gafford, P.J. Washington, Dereck Lively II and others have put their fingerprints on this Dallas surge, but it's Doncic's night-in and night-out consistency that has spearheaded the Mavs' transformation into a title contender.

Luka Doncic, Keegan Murray

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The numbers are unbelievable and undeniable, as Doncic is going to become the first player in NBA history to average 33.9 points, 9.1 rebounds and 9.8 assists during a season. Doncic not only leads the league in scoring, but he's doing so efficiently, shooting 48.7 percent overall and 37.4 percent from deep. His points, assists and 3-point shooting averages are all career-bests, and now that he has a competent supporting cast around him, he's showing the world why he's arguably the best player in it right now.

"When I get aggressive and I enter the paint, good things happen," said Doncic, who is shooting 74.3 percent from five feet out from the basket or less. "So, I just have to do that more, I have read if the low-man helps, Gafford or Lively is up there. If the other low-man helps, there's a corner open, so I'm just trying to read the game."

With all that being said, the job isn't finished for Doncic. If things keep trending the way they have been – the Mavs have won nine of their last 10 games, and the only loss came in a second night of a back-to-back where Doncic didn't play – then it will be hard for voters to overlook his numbers and his impact for his team. Sure, the Mavs won't finish with as good of a record as the Oklahoma City Thunder, Denver Nuggets or Boston Celtics, but early-season roster health should be taken into consideration when voters cast their MVP ballots.

It's not about how you start the race, it's about how you finish, and the Mavs are raising Doncic's MVP chances with their red-hot play in the most important stretch of the season. Dallas will have a chance to keep the fire roaring on Friday, as they play the Kings in Sacramento for a second consecutive time.

“Very big games,” Doncic said before Tuesday's blowout win. “It’s tough to play Sacramento. The crowd’s going, they got a lot of great players. It’s going to be a tough two games for sure. We got to stay together for 48 minutes and be physical.”