It wasn’t long ago the NBA MVP race seemed whittled down to two candidates: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Victor Wembanyama. Now, there’s potentially a third candidate in the race… and it’s not Nikola Jokic, who once appeared to have an outside shot at the award.
It’s Luka Doncic, who is coming off a March where he averaged 37.5 points over 16 games. If that doesn’t give voters pause, I don’t know what will.
Advertisement
With the Thunder (60-16) and Spurs (57-18) being first and second, respectively, in the Western Conference, SGA and Wemby will still be tough to overcome. And both are deserving candidates. For leading their teams to those league-best marks and also for their individual accomplishments.
Gilgeous-Alexander is second in the NBA in scoring at 31.6 points per game and first in win shares per 48 minutes. Wembanyama is a walking double-double at 24.5 points and 11.4 rebounds and leads the league in blocks as the biggest defensive deterrent in the game. Doncic, though, has been going nuclear in a way not many players have in NBA history.
Advertisement
His 600 points in March were the most by a Laker in a calendar month since Jerry West in 1965, and made him just the 10th player in NBA history to score 600 in a month.
More importantly, his play has elevated the Lakers. They’ve gone 16-2 over the last 18 games since Feb. 28, moving ahead of the Rockets, Nuggets and Timberwolves for third in the West. In that span, Doncic had a 51-point game, a 60-point game and at least seven games of 40 points, including his last three.
The Lakers have also been the most clutch team in the NBA, going 22-7 in close games behind a league-best net rating in clutch time. No player has been better in those moments than Doncic.
Advertisement
With only six games left, there isn’t much time for Doncic to continue padding his resume. So, it might be a case of too little too late. But his league-leading 33.8 scoring average didn’t come from one month alone. He’s been balling all season. That it’s now helping the Lakers overachieve should be taken into consideration when the ballots are tallied.
Amar’e Stoudemire is a Hall of Famer
Amar’e Stoudemire made it.
Amar’e Stoudemire, Candace Parker, Elena Delle Donne and Doc Rivers are all being inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame for the Class of 2026, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Tuesday. And of all the names listed there, Stoudemire is the one I’m most surprised about.
Advertisement
Stoudemire was no doubt a monster in his prime, but that prime was extremely short. He really only played five seasons of great, healthy basketball. Which is where my shock comes in.
He did come away with five All-NBA nods to go with Rookie of the Year honors and six all-star selections, so you’ll never catch me saying he wasn’t a great player. But if his selection is considered to be controversial, the short period of his greatness is why.
Regardless, this is a huge honor for Stoudemire. Congrats to him, Delle Donne, Parker and Rivers.
Advertisement
Shootaround
This was Layup Lines, For the Win’s basketball newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Luka Doncic butted in to the NBA MVP race with all-time great March