Leading the league, enforcing the special exemption for the 65-game rule, and yet, Luka Doncic couldn’t get the MVP accolade on his resume. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokic, and Victor Wembanyama were the final 3 on the shortlist. And JJ Redick knows why his Los Angeles Lakers star player was left behind.

“Disappointed, I think he deserved to be there, and I think, you know, all three guys that did end up being a finalist have a strong case. A lot of this, unfortunately, is media momentum,” said the head coach before Game 2 against the Rockets. “Sometimes when a team, I guess we underperformed given that we didn’t have any expectations coming into the year. But I guess we underperformed for a couple of months despite him playing and getting player of the month one of those months. It’s just the media momentum never got built.”

JJ Redick was hinting at the situation in March when Luka Doncic was #2 in the MVP race. The Slovenian then dropped 32 points against the Pistons, followed by back-to-back 40-point games, but it only pushed him down to fourth again. That’s why the Lakers’ head coach is disappointed. As Luka led the league in scoring at 33.5 points per game, while adding 8.3 assists and 7.7 rebounds. The Lakers won 53 games and were fighting for the third spot until the last day of the season. Ultimately, they settled for the fourth seed in the West. It all happened when the Purple and Gold had uncertain moments on the court.

An early sciatica injury to LeBron James saw him miss the first 14 games of the season. Doncic led them to a 10-4 record. Midway through the season, their second leading scorer, Austin Reaves, went down with an injury, and other role players also suffered injuries during the campaign. But Luka Doncic’s exploits remained constant. Despite this, for the first time since the 2014-15 season, a player has ever led the league in scoring and not finished as a top-three MVP finalist. For JJ Redick, he has seen the pattern before.

LeBron James losing MVPs during peak dominance, or James Harden falling short despite historic scoring runs. The MVP race is not only about numbers, but it’s also about media narratives, team success, and sometimes voter fatigue. Luka Doncic had the chance to change some narratives positively in a head-to-head matchup against SGA and the Oklahoma City Thunder. Instead, he suffered a Grade 2 hamstring strain, and the Lakers lost to OKC by 43. As the accolade is decided by moments. The moment in OKC was not for the Lakers star, not his MVP status, but even his postseason run is under threat.

JJ Redick on Luka Doncic’s return

Doncic traveled to Spain shortly after the diagnosis for advanced medical intervention, including multiple injections aimed at accelerating hamstring healing. Ahead of Tuesday’s important game, JJ Redick offered updates that were not so positive regarding the participation of Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves for the current Round 1 series.

Austin Reaves (oblique) has started some on-court work, while Luka Doncic (hamstring) will begin his return-to-play progression soon. Still, the timeline of return for both Lakers stars remains indefinite. “There’s no update on the timeline for either player,” Redick said in his pregame speech. “Austin has started his return-to-play process, but there’s still no timeline for him. Luka is expected to begin some on-court work soon, but again, there’s no update on his timeline.”

ESPN’s Shams Charania had revealed that Reaves could rejoin the Lakers at some point in the first round against the Rockets after already starting his 1-on-1 on-court work. While the head coach, Redick, acknowledged the progress, he was still not sure about the return timeline. For Luka Doncic, it seems the Slovenian superstar is expected to miss the opening round series. Despite leading the league in scoring, Doncic’s stellar campaign can come to an end unceremoniously.