The Los Angeles Lakers are off to a heck of a start to the season. They’re currently 10-4 and in first place of the Pacific Division, and they’ve been led by the new face of the franchise, Luka Doncic. Luka is leading the NBA with 34.4 points per game and fifth in assists with 8.9. He’s already proven that the hype this summer about his newfound level of fitness was well-founded, and though it’s still early, he’s stamped himself as one of the MVP frontrunners.
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Luka’s case is strengthened by the fact that he hasn’t even had LeBron James to help him due to LBJ’s ongoing battle with sciatica. Austin Reaves has been a more than capable wingman, but doing what Luka’s doing without one of the greatest players in history to take the defensive attention off just makes his play even more noteworthy.
Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal was talking about the Lakers with comedian and Lakers fan Anthony Anderson on his podcast last week, and though he said he expects them to make the playoffs, he doesn’t foresee a championship run materializing this year. Asked by cohost Adam Lefkoe if Luka had a shot at MVP, he chose to abstain from answering.
“I stopped focusing on the MVP when I got robbed twice,” Shaq said. “I wish that they’d just give a national criteria on what the MVP is. Is it team success, is it individual success, is it wins? I don’t understand.”
Shaq was such a dominant force in the paint that it’s difficult to even pin down the two robberies he’s talking about. One has to be 2001 when he finished third behind Allen Iverson and Tim Duncan despite putting together a monster season in which he averaged 28.7 points and 12.7 rebounds.
Lefkoe spoke about how narratives and voter fatigue play a part in MVP voting, and he even admitted that he voted for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander last year, even though he thought Nikola Jokic deserved to win. Jokic already had three MVPs, though, so he and the other voters decided to reward Shai’s outstanding season instead.
That may have been what happened with Shaq in 2001, because he had just won the award the year before. On top of that, another robbery that bothers Shaq till date is 2000, because he finished one vote shy of winning it unanimously, something that had never been done before. Steph Curry in 2016 is the only one to do it since.
Shaq could also be talking about 1995, when he led the league in scoring as a third-year player with the Magic but finished behind David Robinson. Or he could be talking about 2002, when he finished behind Tim Duncan and Jason Kidd, or 2005, when he finished second behind Steve Nash.
It’s pretty wild that Shaq had such an incredible career, yet he only owns one MVP. No wonder he doesn’t want to speculate on Luka’s chances this year. Even if he won’t, though, it doesn’t change the fact that if the Lakers keep winning and Luka keeps playing like this, he’s going to be in the mix with Jokic and SGA, especially if he can raise his game even more once LeBron gets back.
