Let me get this straight: Luka Doncic just dropped 41 points against the Nets—his second consecutive 40-point game and his 6th in his last 12 games—and his MVP ranking keeps falling?
What am I missing here?
The Dallas native went 15-for-25 from the field, knocked down five threes, and didn't miss a single free throw. He's putting up numbers we haven't seen since prime Kobe Bryant, and somehow the narrative is slipping away from him. And here's the kicker: Luka knows it, and he's not hiding his frustration.
"Yeah, hopefully, but the better I play the more I go down in ratings," Luka said after the game. "So I don't know what more I can do."
His teammate Austin Reaves echoed the sentiment: "Yeah, and he continues to drop in the MVP race... maybe he's got to score 60, I don't know."
Folks, this is the story of a superstar doing everything right and watching the recognition slip through his fingers. Luka's averaging 40 points over this recent stretch. He's got 15 forty-point games this season—leading the entire league. He just passed Damian Lillard for 15th all-time in career 40-point performances with his 61st.
But in today's NBA, apparently that's not enough.
Is it because the Lakers aren't the top seed? Is it voter fatigue? Are we so used to excellence that we've started taking it for granted? I've been covering basketball for 20 years, and I'll tell you this: what Luka's doing right now is historic. This isn't just a hot streak—this is sustained, elite-level scoring that would have him as the runaway MVP favorite in most seasons.
The kid from Slovenia is playing angry now, and that might be the scariest part for the rest of the league. He picked up his 16th technical foul and will be suspended against the Wizards—probably the best time to serve it—but that fire is what's fueling this incredible run.
