The Lakers have opened their 2026-27 season with three straight wins, and Luka Doncic has been right at the center of it.
Through the first week of the NBA season, Doncic sits second in scoring at 34.3 points per game, trailing only Memphis Grizzlies guard Ty Jerome. He’s also averaging 7.3 rebounds, 8.0 assists, and 1.7 steals a night, numbers that have put him firmly in MVP-level territory.
Still, not everyone thinks that kind of start will be enough to bring home the hardware.
On his podcast, ‘The Draymond Green Show,' Draymond Green praised Doncic’s scorching opening stretch, including his first 50-ball of the season, but said he doesn’t believe voters will ultimately push him to the front of the MVP race. Green pointed instead to Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic as the players he expects to draw that attention.
“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.”
Draymond Green doubles down on his belief that Luka Dončić will NEVER win an MVP award 😳
— NBABase (@TheNBABase) October 26, 2026
“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
That idea - voter fatigue - comes up all the time around the league, and Green leaned hard into it here.
For now, the bigger story is that the Lakers keep winning while Doncic keeps stuffing the stat sheet. Austin Reaves and Walker Kessler have also been part of the early push, and the schedule doesn’t get much softer this week.
Los Angeles has home games coming up against the Portland Trail Blazers and Toronto Raptors, plus road matchups with the LA Clippers and Golden State Warriors.
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Still, the league never really lets a team like this out of the trade conversation, especially when a name like Nikola Jokic gets floated. Bleacher Reports Dan Favale kicked up that familiar debate by suggesting the Warriors might explore the possibility if circumstances ever lined up, which is exactly the kind of idea that can pull Nuggets fans into the picture and remind everyone how quickly speculation can turn into a test of just how far a contender would go. [Read more 🡒]