Luka Doncic solidified his spot at No. 2 on the NBA MVP ladder after leading the Dallas Mavericks to a big 107-103 win over the Sacramento Kings and trash talking their former general manager on Friday night.
Doncic and the Mavericks marched into Golden 1 Center three games back from the Kings in the Western Conference standings, and Doncic’s doing everything he can to gun for MVP flowers.
The 25-year-old climbed up to No. 2 on NBA.com’s weekly MVP ladder on Thursday and was out to prove that he deserved to leapfrog Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for his spot.
He did so with a near-triple-double of 26 points, 12 assists and nine rebounds. This marked his 44th double-double of the 2023-24 NBA season.
Toward the end of his statement performance, the Slovenian pointed at former Kings GM Vlade Divac and reminded him of his mistake in passing up on him with the No. 2 pick in the 2018 NBA Draft.
“He should’ve drafted me,” Doncic passionately repeated after nailing a late-game free-throw.
Luka Doncic as he puts away the Kings tonight in Sacramento with his final free throw, then as the final horn sounds, waves goodbye to former Kings GM Vlade Divac seated courtside and says "he shoulda' drafted me." pic.twitter.com/6j26cLprxA
— Sean Cunningham (@SeanCunningham) March 30, 2024
Doncic’s stock has risen immensely of late. The 2024 All-Star has led Dallas to a 10-1 record over their last 11 games. In that span, he’s putting up 29.4 points and 10.2 assists on 36.4 percent shooting from three-point range.
His numbers have been impressive all season. He became the league’s leading scorer (33.8 PPG) after Philadelphia 76ers MVP Joel Embiid went down with a meniscus injury on January 30.
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More impressively is the way in which the Mavericks have put together wins at the right time. There are only 10 games left before the playoffs begin. The Mavs’ surge has catapulted them two spots to the No. 6 seed out West.
Dallas is also only two games back from seizing home court advantage over the No. 4-seeded Los Angeles Clippers.
Winning plays a huge factor in MVP voting. Russell Westbrook (2017) and Nikola Jokic (2021) are the only two players since 2000 to win the award with their teams finishing outside the top three in their respective conference.
Doncic likely won’t get there this year, being 6.5 games behind Jokic’s No. 3-seeded Denver Nuggets, but he’s making the conversation interesting between the two.
He has a 7.7-point scoring advantage and a narrow edge in the assists department (9.8 APG to 8.9 APG). Doncic’s 9.1 rebounds as a 6-foot-7 guard also strengthen his case.
Doncic will likely have to close the Mavericks’ season on the same winning pace they’re on in order to beat out the Nuggets superstar. Albeit, his recent ascent has intensified the race and is worthy of attention.