On Sunday, it was announced that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder had won this season’s MVP award, making it the second year in a row he won that honor. It wasn’t exactly a surprise, although a few people felt that the San Antonio Spurs‘ Victor Wembanyama may have deserved the award more.
Gilgeous-Alexander, Wembanyama and Nikola Jokić of the Denver Nuggets were announced as the three finalists for the MVP several weeks ago. Los Angeles Lakers fans were disappointed about that news, since Lakers franchise player Luka Doncic didn’t make the cut.
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The NBA released the final vote count, and Doncic got no first-place votes and only one second-place vote. He did get lots of fourth and fifth-place votes, giving him a total of 250 points, which was fourth among all candidates. He was well behind Wembanyama, who finished third in the balloting with 569 points.
Even if Doncic wasn’t even close to winning the MVP award, he certainly had an MVP-caliber season before suffering his season-ending hamstring strain on April 2. He averaged 33.5 points, 7.7 rebounds, 8.3 assists and 1.6 steals a game, and he won his second scoring title.
When the Lakers went 15-2 in March, he put up 37.5 points, eight rebounds and 7.4 assists per game, and it was the first piece of proof that perhaps they can win an NBA championship with him if they improve their depth and athleticism around him. Doncic won the Western Conference Player of the Month award for both March and January.
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He has reportedly begun sticking to the same strict diet that helped him lose extra weight and get into much better shape last summer, which is the first sign that what he did this season is likely the new standard for his level of play.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: How did Luka Doncic do in the final balloting for the NBA MVP?