For years, Luka Doncic was considered the younger (and slightly inferior) "guard" version of three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic. These days, though, that conversation has shifted. Doncic, not Jokic, is attracting the "best player on Earth" label. And it's not just because Luka's numbers are astronomical. He's also generating the kind of generational, on-court gravity that prime Joker exemplified, and, most importantly, it's leading to wins.
ESPN's Tim MacMahon pointed out something absurd about Doncic this week: With Luka on the floor (per MacMahon), the Lakers have posted a +20.0 net rating this season (entering Sunday). With Luka on the bench, the Lakers have posted a -13.3 net rating. That's the kind of net rating swing that is "best of Joker territory," in the words of MacMahon.
And with the Lakers looking like one of the West's elite clubs -- like Joker's Denver Nuggets did during his prime -- one begins to realize that the Doncic-Jokic comparison is realer than ever.
Luka Doncic could be on the cusp of a Nikola Jokic-like generational MVP run
The timing makes perfect sense. Doncic is 27 years old and entering what should be his "prime" years, by historical standards. Jokic was 26 when he won the first of his three MVP awards in four seasons. For what it's worth, the last NBA player to win three consecutive MVPs, Larry Bird, was 27 years old when he won the first of those three.
Sustainability and durability are still big questions for Doncic, especially as we sit here just 13 games into the Lakers' schedule. No one will doubt that Luka can average something like 35/8/8 over the course of multiple months. But can he stay healthy for at least 65 games played? That's a much more interesting question.
Nonetheless, plenty of signs point to this being the time in which Luka ascends to the top of the NBA pecking order. He's at the age where that usually happens for generational "best players in the league" types, and he's in a good team situation, with the Lakers having built a winning roster around him (that should only improve over the next couple of years).
Is Luka about to win multiple MVP awards and capture his first NBA championship, too? I'm not here to guarantee that. I'm just here to point out that if that were ever to happen in Luka's career, the next two to four seasons would be the most likely time.
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