The top 5 NBA MVP candidates through the quarter mark

3. Luka Doncic, Dallas Mavericks- Since his astounding second season, Luka Doncic has led the Dallas Mavericks to the playoffs and has been the favorite to be the MVP in the last three seasons. Coming off a Western Conference Finals appearance and actually coming into the season in shape this time around, he has been nothing short of extraordinary.

Doncic has one of the highest usage rates of all time and is currently second in usage percentage at 37.7 behind Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks who you’ll see later on this list (just a spoiler alert). Doncic is leading the league in scoring (32.9ppg), box-plus minus (8.5), and  VORP (2.9).

The Mavericks have been massively disappointing as a Conference Finals runner-up as they currently sit 10th in the Western Conference. Doncic’s supporting cast outside Spencer Dinwiddie has been pretty unreliable, to say the least, and even with Dinwiddie, he’s not someone who can be your second option on a title-contending team.

Yes, Doncic is a very ball-dominant, heliocentric player who commands the ball a lot, but when you don’t have a true go-to star-level second option to help you win games, is he in the wrong? It’ll be interesting to see where Doncic and the Mavericks close out the season.