ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith Puts Jalen Brunson Ahead of Dallas Mavs’ Luka Doncic for MVP

Luka Doncic is putting the finishing touches on a historic season for the Dallas Mavericks, one that has only gotten better in time, as the team has now won 11 of its last 12 games heading into Tuesday’s matchup against the Golden State Warriors.

Through 65 games, Doncic is averaging 34.0 points, 9.1 rebounds and 9.8 assists while shooting 48.9 percent overall and 38.0 percent from deep. Not only have the Mavs flipped the script in the win column this season, but they’re also 21-8 in clutch games, meaning that when push comes to shove, Doncic and his teammates usually get the job done.

All of that is good enough for most people to have Doncic in their top three when it comes to MVP voting … that is, except for ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith.

“I think they’ll give it to Jokic,” Smith said on First Take. “I would vote for Shai [Gigeous-Alexander]. I have a vote. I would vote for Shai. Jokic would probably be No. 2. I gotta admit to you, it’s a battle for No. 3 between Anthony Edwards and Jalen Brunson.”

When Smith’s co-host Shannon Sharpe called him out on his appalling decision to leave Doncic out of his top four, this is the reasoning Smith had for it: “That’s a fifth seed. He’s battling for a fifth seed right now. Fifth seed!”

Once again, though, Smith’s logic is flawed, as the Mavs (45-29) have a better record than the Knicks (44-30) and would be the No. 3 seed if they were in the Eastern Conference. It’s really a shame that someone like Smith, who clearly watches very few Mavs games, has a vote for an award that can affect players’ NBA legacies.

Earlier this season, when Doncic dropped a career-high 73 points in a Mavs’ win over the Atlanta Hawks, Smith chose to talk about how “disgraceful” Atlanta’s defense was rather than simply acknowledge Doncic’s greatness. We naturally have to wonder how Smith feels about Brunson dropping a career-high 61 points in a loss over the weekend to the bottom-dwelling San Antonio Spurs – a team the Mavs swept 4-0 this season.

All that being said, though, Doncic doesn’t care at all about where talking heads have him in MVP discussions. Whether Smith likes it or not, the Mavs are playing their best basketball at the best time of the season, and the ultimate goal, at the end of the day, is to bring home the franchise’s second NBA championship.