The Los Angeles Lakers are off to a strong start to their 2026-27 regular season campaign, winning all three of their contests thus far. They've been able to do so in large part thanks to the stellar play of superstar Luka Doncic.
Through the first week of the NBA season, Doncic ranks second in scoring at 34.3 points per game behind only Memphis Grizzlies guard Ty Jerome while pouring in 7.3 rebounds, 8.0 assists, and 1.7 steals a night.
While Doncic is playing at an MVP-caliber level, some don't believe it will be enough to win an MVP award. Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green redcently took to his podcast, ‘The Draymond Green Show,' where he praised Doncic for his hot shooting start, but also broke down why he believes he won't be among the frontrunners to win the award like Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander or Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic.
“Luka Doncic drops his first 50-ball of the season and you ask yourself the question is he on a mission an MVP mission this season and I think yes, for sure, that's his mindset,” Green said on his podcast. “He's made that very clear. Now, this is his first year without LeBron. He put out a letter to the fans and all that and it really being his team and organization and he's come out and played that way. But I will tell you I still don't think there's any chance that he's gonna win MVP because the moment he have a few bad games or you know an injury that cost him a couple games, people gonna flip back on, ‘Well it's the same Luka!' and and that's just my opinion. I think people get bored with with greatness. I think Luka's been showing doing great things for a very long time now, and I think they're gonna stay bored with it.
“I think they're gonna be looking at SGA. They're gonna be looking at Joker because those are guys that's already won MVP. Obviously they're gonna be looking at Wemby. They've got off to a tough start, but I think we all believe that that'll change and so yes I think Luka has come out with the mindset of like yo MVP type mindset. However, I still wholeheartedly believe he never wins an MVP because he's in year nine and the people who vote they've already moved on. Hopefully for his sake that he can go beat that out. But I stand by what I said voters get fatigued with seeing you be great over and over again, and if you haven't jumped that threshold of the MVP great, then they move on and they've moved on. Maybe he can pull them back, but hey moved on and I don't think it's happening but not because of his play as I said from the gate. It's just the way it goes.”
Article Continues BelowDraymond Green doubles down on his belief that Luka Dončić will NEVER win an MVP award 😳
“I still wholeheartedly believe he never wins an MVP… The voters get fatigued seeing you be great over and over again.”
(Via @DraymondShow) pic.twitter.com/esyGLUp8aE
— NBABase (@TheNBABase) October 26, 2026
Voter fatigue is a very real thing in the NBA, as we've seen in prior years with both players who have and haven't won the award.
Whether or not Luka Doncic actually wins the award remains to be seen, but if the Lakers continue to look this good led by him, Austin Reaves, and Walker Kessler.
On the docket this week for the Lakers are home contests against the Portland Trail Blazers and Toronto Raptors in addition to a pair of road games against the LA Clippers and Golden State Warriors.