Luka Doncic has officially entered the MVP race

[J_T]

It looks to me like somebody might have told him something about being too aggressive last game and he just didn't want to do it this game. Even the statements after the last game were not like "no, he wasn't too dominant"... it looked to me like his teammates and the coach agreed with the self-criticism. I find it hilarious that Raptors players thought they "stopped" him after the game. They stopped him exactly as much as he wanted them to stop him.

Some suggested that he went on strike like Trae Young did after he was criticized by teammates. I don't think that's the case, even though his decision was conscious and might be producing similar result. The thinking behind it might be reasonable to be honest: it's better to lose games and try to get everyone going, than to have a chance at winning the game, but have only Luka going. Because they will need every player going to achieve their goals. So Luka might keep sacrificing his own offensive output just to force the rest of the team to join the party. I don't think he will have too much issue with that, he is not RW, whining about how he wants to play "his game". Nobody cares about the stats.

[Archx]

Omg guy on back a back to back game when last game was forced to play with James Johnson as the third best player was held at 15/9/7 when the entire gameplan of Toronto was to throw everything at him and let others beat you.

To further prove your point. Let's apply similar logic to this "random" player.

Lebron just had a similar bad game in a loss with 19/5/5 and 5 TO's on 38% FG. But the difference is, LAL had a full team...So i guess he's an overrated and barely a top15 player aswell

Some people are like Skip, spewing nonsense just to get recognition.

[Lord Cuban]

Someone needs to be fired in Dallas... 10 years to find a decent center... Donnie Nelson is a scrub of the GM's

[TheBonzaiEffect]

So I'm curious if Luka looked like the best player in the NBA tonight...

Did LeBron?

[TheBonzaiEffect]

I thought Luka was better than Harden though, according to RealGM poll...?

I'm confused. So...you're wow'd by Harden 34/6/12, but not by Luka averaging better than that with better defense over a 6 game stretch? Luka is better than Harden.

[Some smartguy]

He is a very good player but he is still nowhere near top 5 Or mvp

I would be curious to see what players you clearly put ahead of him right now.
Not saying he's the best player in the league but I don't see how he is "nowhere near top 5".

Lebron
Durant
AD
Harden
Kawhi
Giannis


Are all better then I can make a case for Curry but I think Luka has passed him. Embiid is probably on his level of not better then he is

Luka is better than Harden and Kawhi in the RS. He's putting up the best stats by far(other than Jokic), but the Mavs are absolute garbage outside of Luka and every once-in-a-while KP/THJ. If they weren't missing 6 of their top-8 players for the majority of the season thus far, they would be closer to the top of the West. You could argue that Luka is the best player on that list this season, and not exactly be wrong. I personally have KD/LeBron/Kawhi in the playoffs as better than him, but he is at that level.

[Raps in 4]

After Luka was exposed last night, I think Boucher has overtaken him in the MVP race.

[Openheimer]

I would be curious to see what players you clearly put ahead of him right now.
Not saying he's the best player in the league but I don't see how he is "nowhere near top 5".

Lebron
Durant
AD
Harden
Kawhi
Giannis


Are all better then I can make a case for Curry but I think Luka has passed him. Embiid is probably on his level of not better then he is

Luka is better than Harden and Kawhi in the RS. He's putting up the best stats by far(other than Jokic), but the Mavs are absolute garbage outside of Luka and every once-in-a-while KP/THJ. If they weren't missing 6 of their top-8 players for the majority of the season thus far, they would be closer to the top of the West. You could argue that Luka is the best player on that list this season, and not exactly be wrong. I personally have KD/LeBron/Kawhi in the playoffs as better than him, but he is at that level.

Lol better then harden ? Yeah no

[Some smartguy]

Lebron
Durant
AD
Harden
Kawhi
Giannis


Are all better then I can make a case for Curry but I think Luka has passed him. Embiid is probably on his level of not better then he is

Luka is better than Harden and Kawhi in the RS. He's putting up the best stats by far(other than Jokic), but the Mavs are absolute garbage outside of Luka and every once-in-a-while KP/THJ. If they weren't missing 6 of their top-8 players for the majority of the season thus far, they would be closer to the top of the West. You could argue that Luka is the best player on that list this season, and not exactly be wrong. I personally have KD/LeBron/Kawhi in the playoffs as better than him, but he is at that level.

Lol better then harden ? Yeah no

How is he worse? He's been putting up equal or better stats with better defence. Come up with an actual argument.

[Duffman100]

Stanley Johnson and OG gave him fits last night. As well as the flash doubles.

[Openheimer]

Luka is better than Harden and Kawhi in the RS. He's putting up the best stats by far(other than Jokic), but the Mavs are absolute garbage outside of Luka and every once-in-a-while KP/THJ. If they weren't missing 6 of their top-8 players for the majority of the season thus far, they would be closer to the top of the West. You could argue that Luka is the best player on that list this season, and not exactly be wrong. I personally have KD/LeBron/Kawhi in the playoffs as better than him, but he is at that level.

Lol better then harden ? Yeah no

How is he worse? He's been putting up equal or better stats with better defence. Come up with an actual argument.

Harden is a far better scorer.
Just as good as passer playmaker
Better shot maker
As for defender? Harden is probably the best post defender in tje nba pound for pound

[DrCoach]

Mavs have a terrible record. No MVP

[TheBonzaiEffect]

Lol better then harden ? Yeah no

How is he worse? He's been putting up equal or better stats with better defence. Come up with an actual argument.

Harden is a far better scorer.
Just as good as passer playmaker
Better shot maker
As for defender? Harden is probably the best post defender in tje nba pound for pound

Why is it people like you can never back your claims through anything objective? You can't just state opinions with no evidence.

[Texas Chuck]

After Luka was exposed last night, I think Boucher has overtaken him in the MVP race.

Look it's Boucher's league now. Can't Luka at least still have his own thread? Throw a guy a bone for crying out loud.

[Openheimer]

How is he worse? He's been putting up equal or better stats with better defence. Come up with an actual argument.

Harden is a far better scorer.
Just as good as passer playmaker
Better shot maker
As for defender? Harden is probably the best post defender in tje nba pound for pound

Why is it people like you can never back your claims through anything objective? You can't just state opinions with no evidence.

Harden is leading the league in assists
Harden before he mailed it in for the last 5 games Houston while being over weight was averaging 37-12-6 . He is averaging 33-13-9 on 50 percent shooting as a Nets player. Harden is widely regarded as a excellent post defender

[TheBonzaiEffect]

Harden is a far better scorer.
Just as good as passer playmaker
Better shot maker
As for defender? Harden is probably the best post defender in tje nba pound for pound

Why is it people like you can never back your claims through anything objective? You can't just state opinions with no evidence.

Harden is leading the league in assists
Harden before he mailed it in for the last 5 games Houston while being over weight was averaging 37-12-6 . He is averaging 33-13-9 on 50 percent shooting as a Nets player. Harden is widely regarded as a excellent post defender

Harden has a negative DBPM. Luka's is 1.9. There's a huge gap on defense right now. Harden is a good post defender, but sucks at every other aspect of defense. Luka is a very good post defender, too.

Harden is averaging more assists, but Luka more potential assists. He's been unlucky/is missing loads of teammates. Luka has a better PER, BPM, and VORP. There's also a huge rebounding gap between the two.

Harden is better at getting to the FT line and a better three point shooter. That's about it.

[Openheimer]

Why is it people like you can never back your claims through anything objective? You can't just state opinions with no evidence.

Harden is leading the league in assists
Harden before he mailed it in for the last 5 games Houston while being over weight was averaging 37-12-6 . He is averaging 33-13-9 on 50 percent shooting as a Nets player. Harden is widely regarded as a excellent post defender

Harden has a negative DBPM. Luka's is 1.9. There's a huge gap on defense right now. Harden is a good post defender, but sucks at every other aspect of defense. Luka is a very good post defender, too.

Harden is averaging more assists, but Luka more potential assists. He's been unlucky/is missing loads of teammates. Luka has a better PER, BPM, and VORP. There's also a huge rebounding gap between the two.

Harden is better at getting to the FT line and a better three point shooter. That's about it.

Harden has a history of putting scrubs on his back and getting the most most out of them. Dude had never missed the playoffs with Houston. Harden is simply a better all round offensive player then luka right now, but Luka is young and will potentially be better in his prime.

[Some smartguy]

Lol better then harden ? Yeah no

How is he worse? He's been putting up equal or better stats with better defence. Come up with an actual argument.

Harden is a far better scorer.
Just as good as passer playmaker
Better shot maker
As for defender? Harden is probably the best post defender in tje nba pound for pound

Oh my, so much statistical evidence to sort through. Let's see here,
Luka is averaging more points with almost the same shooting splits(except free throws)
I'll give you that, Harden averages more APG than Luka, but in terms of actual vision, I'd take Luka.
Again, close to the same shooting splits even with Luka in one hell of a slump.
This makes me sad. Harden is a perimeter player and only an above-average post defender.
If you're going to use Harden's numbers from his 2 games with the Nets, I'll use this incredibly small sample size of the 2020-21 season so far:
Luka

2020-21 BPM 8.3 VORP 1.1 OBPM 6.4 DBPM 1.9 PER 26.5

Harden


2020-21 BPM 4.6 VORP 0.4 OBPM 5.0 DBPM -0.8 PER 23.8

Harden gets more fouls called and shoots slightly better from 3.

[Texas Chuck]

Harden has a history of putting scrubs on his back and getting the most most out of them. Dude had never missed the playoffs with Houston. Harden is simply a better all round offensive player then luka right now, but Luka is young and will potentially be better in his prime.

Only knock on Harden is his inconsistency come playoff time. The question is why? If its his heavy RS load, well that shouldn't be an issue in Brooklyn. It is that the better coaches and defenses can scheme against such a one-dimensional attack? Again less of a problem in Brooklyn. Is it that you don't get the same calls in the playoffs? Maybe, but there isn't that big a drop off in his draw rate.

Luka doesn't have enough of a sample size in the NBA for us to know. His performances in Euroleague, international, and against the Clippers are mighty encouraging though.

Still no question in my mind that Harden is still the better player and that's zero knock on Luka. Harden is in that age range when the vast majority of superstars are peaking and Luka is still 5 years away from that point. Luka is an amazing player, but Harden is simply better today.

[Some smartguy]

Mavs have a terrible record. No MVP

It's 13 games into the season and 6 of their top 8 players have missed the majority of the games so far.