Top 5 unchanged, but Jayson Tatum lurking on NBA Most Improved Player Ladder

Luka Doncic continues to lead the pack for the NBA Most Improved Player honor as the first-time All-Star has played in five games since returning from a seven-game absence in late January and early February due to a sprained right ankle.

The Dallas Mavericks are 4-2 since Doncic returned, with the one of those losses coming at Atlanta as Doncic was out with soreness in the ankle on the second night of a back-to-back.

In the five games Doncic played, he put up 27.0 points, 9.4 assists and 9.0 rebounds in 33.2 minutes per game while shooting 45.4 percent overall and 28.9 percent on 7.6 3-point attempts a game.

He came back with 33 points and 12 rebounds in 31 minutes of a blowout win over the Kings on Feb. 12 and put up his NBA-leading 13th triple-double of the season in Wednesday’s win at the San Antonio Spurs, logging 26 points, 14 assists and 10 boards.

In 48 games this season, Doncic is averaging 28.6 points, 9.4 rebounds, 8.8 dimes and 1.0 steals in 32.9 minutes per game while hitting 46.3 percent overall and 31.9 percent on 9.0 3-point attempts per game.

Voters have not always been supportive of second-year players, particularly lottery picks, in the voting for Most Improved Player. There hasn’t been a sophomore win the award since Monta Ellis in 2006-07 with the Golden State Warriors; he was a second-round pick in 2005.

The last second-year lottery pick to win was Rony Seikaly of the Miami Heat in 1989-90, so it’s possible Doncic (and by extension Trae Young) will face voter bias. However, De’Aaron Fox of the Sacramento Kings was a finalist for the award last season as a second-year lottery pick.