Lakers' Luka Doncic 'Obviously' Wants NBA MVP Award But Focused on Championship
Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Dončić has averaged 34.7 points, 8.8 assists and 8.7 rebounds per game this year, and that performance has placed him in the MVP conversation.
In an interview that aired Thursday, ESPN's Dave McMenamin asked Dončić where he felt he fits in the MVP talk this year, and he provided this response:
"My first focus is obviously championship. I'm not trying to think that much of individual awards...obviously I want it but it's gonna come with our team winning."
The top three candidates for the MVP right now are Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokić (who leads the league with a 35.9 PER), Oklahoma City Thunder (and reigning NBA MVP) Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (who leads the league's best team at 24-2) and Dončić (who leads the NBA in scoring).
Dončić's case is helped by the fact that the Lakers are 18-7 despite missing LeBron James, who missed the first 14 games of the season with sciatica in his right side. The Lakers weathered that storm and still went 10-4 in that stretch.
Of course, the Lakers still have 57 games left in the season, so there's a lot of basketball to be played for L.A. (and the rest of the league) before we get a good picture on the MVP race for sure.
In the meantime, Dončić and the Lakers are striving toward their goal of winning the championship and hoping to continue their good first half when they visit the Utah Jazz on Thursday.
