Sports Illustrated writer Chris Mannix, who also has an NBA MVP vote, snubbed Luka Doncic from the top four candidates, calling his defense "one of the worst in the league."
Los Angeles Lakers superstar Luka Doncic dropping in the NBA's MVP ladder came as a shock to many fans, with no clear explanation for the decline despite his incredible play lately.
Luka Doncic
Luka Doncic
Luka Doncic
MIN: 35.95
PTS: 33.69 (56.83%)
REB: 7.84
AS: 8.23
ST: 1.65
BL: 0.55
TO: 4.02
GM: 62
A possible reason may have emerged, however, as well-known Sports Illustrated writer Chris Mannix called out Doncic's defense and argued that he doesn't even deserve to be in the top four this season.
Mannix pointed to Doncic's subpar defensive numbers, saying that while he may be the best offensive player in the game, his defense hurts his MVP case. He even went as far as to call him one of the worst defenders in the league.
"I've got Luka Doncic in my second tier. Now, I know there's going to be some criticism about Luka being on the second tier - he's been outstanding offensively - I just can't get past the defensive numbers for Luka Doncic," Mannix said on the Open Floor NBA show.
"The defensive numbers have just been bad. I want to read some of this: Luka has an individual defensive rating this year of 115.6. That would rank 119th among the 180 players with 25-plus starts this season. So he has been, by any measurable statistic, one of the worst defensive players in the league," he noted.
Credit AP - Scanpix
"And when the competition is this close, I've got to factor that in. I've got to include what you're bringing to the table defensively. He's the best offensive player in the game, the best offensive weapon in the game, but defensively he's coming up short."
Mannix, who also has an NBA MVP vote, says that right now Luka Doncic is behind four players he's considering voting for in the MVP conversation.
"My first tier is the group of players we've been talking about: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Victor Wembanyama, Nikola Jokic, Jaylen Brown. Those four guys are in my first tier, and those are the four players I am considering casting my MVP vote for," he added.
This season, Luka is averaging a league-leading 33.7 points on over 47 percent shooting, along with 8.2 assists, 7.8 rebounds, and 1.6 steals across 62 games.
Meanwhile, the Lakers are third in the Western Conference with a 48–26 record.
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