Draymond Green sparks controversy with bold Luka Doncic prediction
"He will never win the NBA MVP"
Since his second year in the NBA, Luka Doncic has been among the favorites to win the MVP . He has been selected to the All-NBA First Team six times. He has watched Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid and, on the last two occasions, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander lift the trophy, but he has not achieved it. And, according to Draymond Green, he is not going to achieve it .
The controversial Warriors player has a podcast in which he doesn’t hold back when talking about any issue. This time he gave his opinion on Doncic, of whom he said that "he will never win the MVP. This is the last year he can win it" . It is not a criticism of the Lakers point guard, whose talent and qualities he acknowledges, but rather he is talking about taking things for granted when it comes to some NBA stars.
"If I could average 34 points per game, they would say: "Ah, yes, of course Luka averaged 34 points per game" . We already know that he is supposed to do it, but it would not look the same if someone else did it. It’s as if people got tired of that" , he says. And he also gives as examples Jayson Tatum or the career of LeBron James: "Don’t tell me he should only have four MVP awards" .
In the MVP races Doncic has been part of, he has been hindered by physical problems. In the eight full seasons he has spent in the NBA, only in two of them — his rookie year and 2023-24 — has he managed to reach 70 games . The award is based on statistics, quality, team success, and a consistency that the point guard has almost never enjoyed. Now that he seems to be spending more time taking care of his body, he could have a better chance .
Victories have not gone his way either. While with the Mavericks, his high point was 52 in a regular season . He led the team to one NBA Finals and another Conference Finals. In his first full year with the Lakers, last season, the team reached 53 , although he had to share leadership with LeBron James and was limited to just 64 games. Shai, Jokic and Victor Wembanyama finished ahead of him in the voting . This campaign, as the team’s main figure in Los Angeles, Doncic will try to prove Green’s prediction wrong .
