Luka Doncic, Lakers, NBA MVP
Getty
Injured Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77) in street clothes during a timeout against the Golden State Warriors at Crypto.com Arena on February 7, 2026 in Los Angeles, California.
Injured superstar guard Luka Doncic will miss his 12th game of the 2025-26 season on Thursday night, when his Los Angeles Lakers host the Dallas Mavericks in the final game before the NBA All-Star break.
As a result, Doncic can now afford to miss only five more games the rest of the season to maintain eligibility for All-NBA honors and awards like MVP. The Slovenian would have to appear in at least 23 of the Lakers’ remaining 28 games after the All-Star break to remain in contention for the Michael Jordan Trophy.
Doncic missed out on an All-NBA honor last year as he appeared in only a combined 50 games for the Mavericks and Lakers due to a calf injury. Prior to that, he received five consecutive All-NBA First Team selections, becoming the youngest player in NBA history to achieve the feat. In 2024, he also became just the fourth player ever to make five All-NBA First Teams within their first six years in the league.
Alas, the NBA’s controversial 65-game rule could rob Doncic of several accolades, not to mention his elusive MVP.
Luka Doncic Injury Concerns
In the latest KIA MVP Ladder, Doncic came in at No. 2, behind only reigning NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The Lakers star leapfrogged Nikola Jokic to second place a few weeks back due to the Denver Nuggets star’s extended injury absence. Now, Doncic could similarly lose ground in the MVP race due to a hamstring injury that has held him out for consecutive games leading into the All-Star break.
The good news, however, is that Doncic has yet to be ruled out of Sunday’s All-Star Game, meaning he will likely return to the Lakers lineup for the Feb. 20 showdown against the LA Clippers, the first game after the All-Star break.
Luka Doncic MVP Case
Former WNBA MVP Candace Parker reckons Doncic, the NBA’s scoring leader (32.8 PPG), should receive more MVP consideration.
“Don’t Kobe Luka,” Parker said recently. “Don’t get bored with greatness. Luka Doncic is a beast, and I feel like, to some extent, we overlook greatness because you see it for an extended period of time.”
One factor working in Doncic’s favor is that fellow MVP candidates Jokic and SGA have also caught the injury bug. While Jokic is just one missed game away from disqualification for MVP, SGA, dealing with a severe abdominal injury, can afford to sit out only a dozen more games and will be re-evaluated after the All-Star break.
Some analysts believe that the injuries to Doncic, Jokic and SGA could make the NBA MVP race a two-horse race between Detroit Pistons‘ Cade Cunningham and Boston Celtics‘ Jaylen Brown. One thing is for certain — if three prime MVP candidates fail to hit the 65-game threshold, the NBA could be forced to revisit its 65-game rule next year.
LeBron James, already disqualified for All-NBA honors, recently criticized the NBA’s 65-game rule, calling for it to be abolished.
“You can’t tell me that Jokic is not All-NBA now and all of a sudden because he’s missed, you know, 30 games, you kind of tell me he’s not, you know, first-team All-NBA. This guy’s averaging 29, 13, and 14 or some s—t like that,” he said on his podcast.