Draymond Green Says 'Greatness Fatigue' Will Prevent Lakers' Luka Doncic from Winning NBA MVP

Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green said "greatness fatigue" will prevent Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Dončić from winning an NBA MVP.

"Nah, I don't think there's anything that he can do (to win it)," Green told Sam Amick of The Athletic after Dončić posted 28 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and three steals in 30 minutes in the Lakers' season-opening win over the 127-105 win over the Warriors on Wednesday.

"And by the way, it's not a knock on him. I don't think there is anything that he can do. If they're the 1, 2, 3 seed — great. It's still Luka Dončić. No one is going to be surprised that Luka Dončić's team is the 4 seed. Nobody. He's that good. There's no element of surprise if his team is the fourth seed.

"I just think, ultimately, he gets screwed because of it. And it's probably a little unfair. Anybody else puts those numbers up, and they're walking away with the MVP. Like, home free. That's why I made the comparison to Bron. He's got, what, four MVPs? You're telling me he wasn't the best player in the NBA for at least 10 seasons? It's greatness fatigue."

As Amick noted, Dončić didn't receive a vote from any of the league's 30 general managers in the latest annual NBA GM Survey in response to a question about who would win MVP.

San Antonio Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama got 23 votes. Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokić received three, Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander took two, and Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards and Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum received one apiece.

Lakers wing Austin Reaves had this to say regarding the results and Green's remarks.

"You can go ask any of those GMs if they want him on their team, and they're going to take him," Reaves told Amick. "There's a lot of truth in what (Green) said. Luka has done what he's done for eight years now, and when he does it, there's no wow factor.

"There's a wow factor when he plays, but you look at the box (score) after the game, and you're like … 'Oh, he had 35 (points).' So when he has 40, people aren't like, 'Holy s—, he had 40!' It's like, 'Oh, he did what he does every single night.' So, I think there's a little bit of truth in what Draymond said about voter fatigue with someone who hasn't won it."

Six of the last seven seasons have resulted in Dončić making the All-NBA First Team. The only exception was 2024-25, when Dončić was limited to 50 games due to injury.

Dončić has been great to say the least, although he hasn't been close to winning the MVP. His best MVP race result was third in 2023-24, when Dončić (then a member of the eventual Western Conference champion Dallas Mavericks) averaged an NBA-high 33.9 PPG.

Dončić received four of a possible 100 first-place votes. Denver Nuggets big man Nikola Jokić earned 79 first-place votes en route to winning the MVP easily.

From 2019-20 through 2025-26, Dončić has averaged 30.5 points, 8.6 rebounds, 8.6 assists and 1.5 steals per game. Needless to say, those are incredible numbers, especially over a seven-season span. There's no doubt he's one of the NBA's elite players and deserves MVP consideration every year.

The problem is that he has faced great competition in the MVP race (Jokić, Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, a breakout year from Philadelphia 76ers big man Joel Embiid). Wembanyama has joined the MVP conversation as well.

In addition, Dončić's teams have never been atop (or near the top) of the Western Conference in the regular season, topping out at fourth. That might be an issue again this year with the Thunder and San Antonio Spurs, on paper, looking like two powerhouses who should pace the West.

To Green's point, "greatness fatigue" is certainly possible. Dončić puts up huge stats and the team's offense on his back every night. It's what he does, to the point where perhaps people can fall into the trap of taking it for granted.

Ultimately, Dončić has bigger issues than the MVP, and that's trying to lead the Lakers to its first title since 2020. They got off to a good start Wednesday as the new-look squad fired on all cylinders in a 22-point win.