No one believes the Lakers are going to win the championship.
And no one believes Luka Doncic is the MVP.
The Lakers’ nine-game winning streak? All that proved is the Lakers will likely get past the first round of the playoffs.
Doncic’s unreal March in which he scored the second-most points in NBA history behind Michael Jordan? As he recently pointed out with disgust, he actually fell in the MVP race during that stretch.
But both the Lakers and Doncic have a chance to change people’s minds. It’s coming over the next seven days in the form of two games against the Thunder.
If the Lakers beat the reigning NBA champions, their stock will skyrocket. And if Doncic outshines the reigning MVP in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, he could win the MVP Award.
The Lakers are coming off a commanding win over the Cavaliers on Tuesday in which they led by as much as 27 points. They’ve won 16 of their last 18 games, including beating multiple contenders in the Rockets (twice), Nuggets, Knicks and Timberwolves.
But they haven’t convinced anyone they’re the real deal.
Yeah, they’re good. But not good enough to get past the Thunder and Spurs.
It’s a fair assumption considering the last time they played the Thunder and their swarming defense in January, they looked like they had barely survived a war.
Seriously, Austin Reaves was slumped in his chair, too exhausted to sit upright. And LeBron James’ voice was hoarse. (Doncic missed that game, to be fair, but it was still brutal.)
But the thing is the Lakers are a completely different team now.
Doncic, Reaves and James went from being a liability on the court into one of the best trios in the league. The role players are starring in their duties. Things turned around for the Lakers beginning in late February.
What changed?
“I think it was a confluence of things starting with health,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said, pointing to the fact that the Big 3 had only played 11 games together before the All-Star break. “I think it’s much easier when you have a consistent stretch of health to — not even buy in — but settle into roles and minutes and rotations. We never found that throughout the season. Another big part of that was…guys really just embracing things.”
After James missed a three-game stretch at the top of March against the Pacers, Knicks and Timberwolves in which the Lakers were thriving behind Doncic and Reaves, he agreed to be the team’s third option. Reaves has learned to be aggressive while sharing the court with James and Doncic. And Doncic has been playing out of his mind.
But still, no one really believes in the Lakers.
Not yet.
Same with Doncic.
Both Doncic and his fans have been outraged that the bar for the MVP Award seems to change whenever his name is involved. So what he’s an offensive savant who’s leading the league in scoring (33.8 points) is third in assists (8.3) and sixth in steals (1.7)? He’s mediocre on the defensive end.
Sure, that didn’t seem to matter when guys like James Harden or Steph Curry won the award. But in this MVP race, with two-way stars Gilgeous-Alexander and Victor Wembanyama, the goalpost has shifted.
That’s being held against Doncic, who scored 40-plus points for the third straight game on Tuesday and has had a month in which he had 60-point and 51-point performances while helping his team climb to third in the Western Conference standings.
Wembanyama recently stated his case for why he should win the award. Gilgeous-Alexander declined to do so, saying, “I let my game do the talking,”
When Doncic was asked Tuesday if he wanted to advocate for himself, he seemed resigned to the fact that it would be an act of futility. He literally scoffed when the reporter mentioned he was “getting a lot of MVP momentum.”
“I mean, I never did that,” Doncic said. “I’m not the one voting, so, you know, but I think I’ve been playing pretty good. We’ve been winning. So that’s it. That’s all I gotta say.”
Well, Doncic, here’s your chance to change voters’ minds.
He’s going head to head with the favorite for the award twice over the next week. If he outplays him, that would speak louder than any argument he could’ve made.
The Lakers have arrived. Doncic has arrived.
And even though they’re in one of the top-two most visible markets in the league and are constantly on national TV screens, no one seems to see them.
But that could change.
And it all comes down to how they perform against the Thunder.