Luka Doncic has been inching toward becoming NBA MVP for the better part of the past seven seasons. He's already a five-time All-NBA First Team honoree on pace for a sixth nod in 2025-26, and could've secured a seventh had he met the minimum games played requirement in 2024-25.
For as brilliant as Doncic has been, however, he's never won MVP. The sudden surge in efficiency he's experienced since Jan. 1 is giving him a chance to finally end the drought.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the frontrunner in most MVP discussions, with the likes of Cade Cunningham, Nikola Jokic, and Victor Wembanyama all in the hunt. Doncic has become a legitimate threat for the award, however, by taking his game to an entirely new level in the midst of an already special season.
According to Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times, Lakers head coach JJ Redick praised Doncic for the leap he's made not only in volume, but efficiency since the calendar turned to 2026.
“He’s been high-volume, high-efficiency for about two and a half months now,” Redick said of the shooting. “It’s so important. It just sets up the rest of his game when he’s making threes. And it obviously gives us life.”
Redick isn't wrong about that last part, as the Lakers are 23-6 when Doncic makes at least four three-point field goals in 2025-26. They're 12-13 when he plays but fails to.
That sure seems to put the "valuable" in Most Valuable Player.
Luka Doncic reaching elite levels of efficiency and volume
Redick is on record as praising Doncic for, "Playing as well as anybody in the NBA right now," and he's not wrong. Since shooting 1-of-7 from beyond the arc on Jan. 1, Doncic has averaged 32.2 points, 8.3 assists, 7.8 rebounds, 1.5 steals, and 4.3 three-point field goals made per game on .490/.410/.745 shooting.
That's a strong and healthy 29-game sample size for the player who's currently on pace to win the scoring title—the second of his already decorated career.
A relatively slow start from an efficiency perspective may have, unfortunately, removed Doncic from the top tier of MVP candidates. It's simply tough to believe that considering he's averaging 32.9 points, 8.5 assists, 7.9 rebounds, 1.5 steals, and 3.9 three-point field goals made on .475/.367/.776 shooting for the season while leading Los Angeles to a top-four seed in the Western Conference.
Doncic thus joins Jokic as the only players in the NBA averaging at least 25.0 points and 8.0 assists per game—and is the only player doing so while making at least 2.0 three-point field goals per ocntest.
Despite the statistical evidence, Doncic's reputation as a volume shooter who sacrifices efficiency for general production persists. One can only assume that the divisive aesthetic nature of his game has been confused with a general disregard for creating high-quality looks, let alone converting them.
The truth isn't on the same wavelength as the narrative, but Doncic's play in 2025-26 is that of an MVP-caliber player nevertheless.