Los Angeles Lakers guard/forward Luka Doncic closed the 2025-26 season just outside the finalist group for the Kia NBA Most Valuable Player Award, taking fourth place in the balloting announced on May 17, 2026.
The league revealed that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander earned MVP honors for a second consecutive year. The Oklahoma City Thunder star finished ahead of Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic and San Antonio Spurs forward/center Victor Wembanyama, the other two official finalists selected by a global panel of 100 media voters.
Doncic, 27, delivered another prolific campaign, leading the NBA in scoring at 33.5 points per game while adding 7.7 rebounds, 8.3 assists and 1.6 steals. He shot 47.6 percent from the field and 36.6 percent from three‐point distance across 64 appearances.
The Slovenian playmaker initially risked disqualification from awards consideration because he fell one game short of the league’s 65-game requirement. An Extraordinary Circumstances appeal—filed after he missed two contests for the birth of his daughter—was granted, restoring his eligibility.
Despite a March surge in which the Lakers went 15-2 and Doncic collected his second Western Conference Player of the Month award, a late-season hamstring injury and Los Angeles’ uneven record weakened his MVP case.
Lakers head coach JJ Redick voiced frustration over the final results, saying the team’s slow start and limited national momentum overshadowed Doncic’s individual production.
Source: LakersNation.com
