Doncic outperforms everyone: Why he is the No. 1 candidate to win the MVP next season
The leading contender ahead of Nikola Jokic and Shai Gilgeous-
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In his seventh season in the NBA, Luka Doncic starts as the favorite for the MVP prize. Only in some bookmakers Nikola Jokic, who aspires to his fourth award, is at his level. The Slovenian point guard has been All Star five times, has been part of the best five of the league in those same campaigns and has been in the running to receive the award for best player of the competition. This time he is the frontrunner.
Last season, Doncic was already the NBA’s top scorer with 33.9 points per game and was close to averaging a triple-double, as he added 9.8 rebounds and 9.2 assists in the 70 games he played. But the main difference from other years was that the Mavericks were a winning team. They finished with a 52-30 record and carried that record even into the Finals, where they succumbed to the Celtics. It didn’t seem like a fluke, like when they reached the Conference Finals in 21-22, but rather the result of good work in the front office and on the court.
Led again by Doncic, the Mavericks are supposed to maintain that upward trend. Celtics star Jayson Tatum recently predicted a repeat of last season’s Finals. And in Dallas, with the arrival of experienced four-time champion Klay Thompson, they are dreaming. The signing of one of the best three-point shooters in NBA history could come in handy for the Slovenian point guard to further improve his numbers, because until now the shooters around him were unable to maintain consistency.
“If you average those stats with what you had and now you have a ‘catch and shoot’ guy, the assists will come effortlessly. I’d be surprised if Doncic doesn’t average a triple-double this season. He’s possibly the No. 1 MVP candidate,” says former player Gilbert Arenas. The last player to win the award after averaging a triple-double was Russell Westbrook in 2017.
The same opinion as Arenas is held by ESPN’s panel of experts, who in a poll in August gave Doncic 48% of the top spots. Behind him were Nikola Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Joel Embiid, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Anthony Edwards.
His physical condition
The first thing that will have to be checked is the physical condition in which Doncic arrives to the Mavericks preseason. He has had time to work after not playing the Games after falling in the Pre-Olympics in Piraeus and was recently seen in the tribute to Drazen Petrovic in Zagreb and has been touring China. There are still 38 days left until the regular season starts in the NBA.