Draymond Green Explains Why Lakers' Luka Doncic 'Will Never Win an MVP in the NBA'

Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green questioned whether Luka Dončić, a perennial MVP candidate, will ever get over the hump and earn the award.

"Luka will never win an MVP in the NBA. This is the last possible year he can win it," Green said on Wednesday's episode of his podcast (via HoopsHype). "Because if Luka could go average 34 points a game, they're going to be like, 'Oh, yeah, of course Luka averaged 34 points a game.' And it's like [Jayson Tatum] could go average 30, they're going to be like, 'Oh, yeah, we know he can average 30 points a game.' He can average both of them can average 30, 11, and eight.

"'Oh, yeah, we know they're supposed (to).' It won't be viewed as somebody else averaging those numbers. It it's like people get fatigued of it. Same thing happened with LeBron James. You can't tell me he only should have four MVPs."

Green seems to be making two separate arguments.

Voter fatigue can be a factor with somebody like LeBron James. James' last MVP win was in 2012-13, and you could almost certainly point to some years since then when he was the NBA's single most valuable player.

Michael Jordan winning five MVPs in 15 seasons is cited as another example of this.

But it's a little harder to argue that voters effectively punish consistency over an extended period of time when the Oklahoma City Thunder's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the two-time reigning MVP. Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokić also received three MVPs over a four-year span and was the runner-up in 2022-23, 2024-25 and 2025-26.

As perhaps a better example, Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid was in his age-28 season and coming off back-to-back runner-up finishes when he was finally crowned MVP in 2022-23. Voters didn't take his monster season for granted because he had maintained a similar level before.

In the case of Dončić specifically, the fact he became an MVP contender in his second season in the NBA isn't why the trophy remains a glaring omission on his résumé.

The six-time All-Star has logged 70-plus appearances just twice in his career, and availability is something to consider within the context of measuring a player's value.

The Dallas Mavericks also had only one top-four finish in the Western Conference during Dončić's first six full seasons there. That kind of team performance will always present a hurdle in an MVP quest.

There's no set criteria for judging the most deserving MVP, but "most valuable" doesn't automatically equate to the best player or the one putting up the best numbers.

It will be surprising if Dončić doesn't have an MVP to show from his career, but there are a lot of distinguished stars from any given era who, for one reason or another, didn't get to enjoy that status, either.