Luka Doncic has spent the past month doing something only Michael Jordan has done before: he scored 600 points in March. On Tuesday night, he dropped 42 on the Cleveland Cavaliers, grabbing the 50th win of the season for a Los Angeles Lakers team that, by every measurable standard, cannot survive without him on the floor.
And yet, as the regular season winds toward the finish line, the MVP race has somehow calcified into a two-man contest between Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Victor Wembanyama. Nikola Jokic‘s name floats around the edges. Doncic, despite leading the league in scoring at 33.8 points per game and dragging the Lakers into the third seed in a brutal Western Conference, has been treated like an afterthought.
FOX Sports’ Nick Wright has been pounding this drum for weeks, calling the media’s dismissal of Doncic’s candidacy “lunacy.” Now, former NBA champion Iman Shumpert echoed that sentiment while admitting his own blind spot.
“It’s actually starting to bother me that I haven’t been talking about him more when we start talking about the MVP discussion,” Shumpert said on ESPN’s Get Up. “Because when you think of the Lakers, there’s no night that you feel like they can really come out here and compete if Luka is not suited up. So, my bad for that, Luka, cuz you have been doing a great job.”
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The on-off data confirms Shumpert’s point. According to Cleaning the Glass, the trio of Doncic, LeBron James, and Austin Reaves produces a +11.3 net rating when playing together, ranking in the 93rd percentile of three-man lineups. Remove Doncic from that equation, and the net rating craters to -2.9, dropping the Lakers into the 40th percentile. They go from playing winning basketball to playing losing minutes the moment Doncic checks out.
Defensively, the story is similar. Despite persistent criticism of his effort on that end, Doncic has quietly emerged as an effective pick-and-roll disruptor and passing-lane defender. With him on the floor, the Lakers’ defensive numbers have stabilized; without him, they hemorrhage points.
Gilgeous-Alexander anchors the league’s best defense in the Oklahoma City Thunder, and Wembanyama is a frontrunner for Defensive Player of the Year, but neither faces the same roster construction challenges Doncic does.
LUKA, LAKERS LIGHT UP MARCH: The Los Angeles Lakers last night clinched a spot in the NBA Playoffs presented by Google, completed their winningest month (15-2) since 2000 and secured their second 50-win season in a row. Luka Dončić scored 42 points in the win over the Cleveland… pic.twitter.com/Re1MOl0tDo
— NBA (@NBA) April 1, 2026
The Thunder’s depth allows SGA to rest without the floor collapsing. The San Antonio Spurs built around Wembanyama’s unique skill set from day one. Doncic is carrying a team that includes a 41-year-old James, who, despite his greatness, creates spacing and ball-handling redundancies that complicate the offense.
None of this is to diminish what SGA or Wembanyama have accomplished. Both are deserving candidates. But the gap between them and Doncic in the discourse feels disconnected from the gap between them on the court.
The next week offers a chance to settle this. The Lakers travel to Oklahoma City on Thursday, then host the Thunder in Los Angeles on April 7. Two games against the best team in the league, with playoff seeding and MVP narratives on the line. If Doncic wants to prove the doubters wrong, these are the games to do it.
Related: NBA Analysts Choose Victor Wembanyama Over Luka Doncic for Their Playoff Teams for 1 Reason
This story was originally published by Athlon Sports on Apr 2, 2026, where it first appeared in the NBA section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
