JJ Redick Jokingly Blames Luka Doncic’s Constant Complaining for MVP Snub

Luka Doncic is without a doubt the best player and the No. 1 option on the Los Angeles Lakers ever since he arrived via the blockbuster trade two years ago.

The Slovenian is an accomplished scorer, which has enabled him to rank among the top five in the MVP race over the last few seasons.

However, every time he loses, it’s either to a close friend and Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic or, recently, to Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

This season, the 27-year-old has elevated his game with a slew of impressive performances, but since the Lakers struggled to win games in the past few months, those numbers have not helped his position in the MVP race.

Because he complains to the refs, I don’t know.

JJ Redick said

This was the Lakers head coach’s response when asked why he felt Luka Doncic was not prominently featured in the MVP race. JJ Redick said this with a sly smile on his face, seemingly taking a shot at all the narratives that have been thrown around recently.

Before the men in purple and gold started this winning streak, the guard was facing criticism left, right, and center about his incessant complaining to officials.

Now, those narratives are not making the headlines anymore, especially after the superstar’s recent performances, the last of which has effectively cemented his legacy as one of the best players in the league currently.

Luka Doncic torches Miami Heat with 60-point performance

Now that those narratives have almost died down, Luka Doncic and his teammates have put their heads down and focused on defeating every team in their path.

Ever since their last loss to the Denver Nuggets on March 5th, the 6’8″ guard has not scored under 30 points, which included a revenge win against Jokic and company.

After that, they won two games against the Houston Rockets in front of their fans, and then flew to Miami to play the Heat on the very next day, with little rest.

Doncic started off doing what he does every game, and once he found his rhythm, he started scoring at will. His teammates, too, realized this and promptly took away ball handling and defensive duties from him so that he could concentrate on scoring.

With 14.8 seconds left in the game, he scored his 60th point off free throws and went to the bench with resounding cheers and MVP chants from the plethora of Lakers fans at Kaseya Center.

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That is what prompted the journalist to ask JJ Redick about it, as fans have started to gravitate towards the father of two as an MVP candidate.

Now, his odds of becoming MVP have tripled. However, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander fan, Kendrick Perkins, believes it will come down to the last game of the season for that award to be decided.

Luka Doncic and LeBron James match NBA record

While Luka Doncic scored 60 points against the Miami Heat to notch his second-highest scoring effort to date, his teammate, LeBron James, ended the game with a triple-double.

This was a far cry from the time when the King made it clear that he might not play in back-to-back games, but appeared alongside his teammates to help the Lakers register their eighth straight win.

Since Doncic was taking over the scoring burden, James stepped up to be the playmaker and dished out ten assists. Along with his game-high 15 rebounds, the oldest player in the league ended up helping himself and his younger teammate enter the history books.

They are the first pair of teammates where one scored a 60-point game, and the other notched a triple-double since Wilt Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor did it in 1969. To do it despite playing back-to-back and in was worthy of etching their names in the history books.

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