Luka Doncic: NBA Championship Is More Important Than MVP After Mavs' Game 1 Win
Despite entering the NBA regular season as the odds-on favorite to win MVP this year at +410 (bet $100 to win $410), Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic wasn't even named a finalist for the award.
That didn't seem to bother the point guard too much on Saturday as he poured in his third career triple-double in the postseason while guiding the Mavs to a 113-103 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers in Game 1 of their first-round series.
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"I don't really care about MVP," Doncic told ESPN after notching 31 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds. "We have great players in this league. What's important is the championship and obviously that's our goal this season."
Nikola Jokic, Stephen Curry and Joel Embiid were named the three finalists for MVP earlier this week, but it appears to be a runaway for the Denver Nuggets center, who saw his odds reach -7000 on FanDuel shortly after the announcement.
As of Saturday, Doncic has something those finalists don't this season: a playoff victory. He needs 15 more to lift the Larry O'Brien Trophy and hang another banner at American Airlines Center.
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