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Luka Doncic Flashing Brilliance From Three-Point Range
Mathew is an avid sports fan who loves basketball. He has a soft spot for Denver sports in particular and has been involved with sports writing for close to 7 years now. He likes to utilize both statistics and a blend of the eye test when analyzing the games he loves. Mathew also dabbles with sports betting and loves helping people win money.
All posts by Mathew HuffUpdated09 Apr 2024
It is no secret by now that Luka Doncic is playing at an MVP level this season. He is right in the thick of the MVP race and has also led the Mavericks to the middle of the Western Conference playoff picture. Having Kyrie Irving as his co-star certainly helps, but Doncic has also massively improved a facet of his game that was inconsistent at the start of his career. The Mavericks superstar has turned into a force from three-point range this year.
Luka Doncic Scorching Hot From Beyond the Arc as of Late
His Numbers
Doncic may not be Steph Curry but leaving him open for three is no longer a feasible defensive option. Just in his past five games, the Slovenian star is hitting 46.7 percent of his shots from beyond the arc. In the past 10 matchups, Doncic is tallying a three-point shooting percentage of 40.2 percent. For the entire regular season, the five-time All-Star has stroked it from downtown at a rate of 38.2 percent, a career-high. For Doncic’s entire career, he possesses a three-point shooting percentage of 34.7 percent which is relatively pedestrian in today’s NBA.
However, this total should improve as he has clearly become a reliable threat from long range this season. For context, LeBron James has a career three-point shooting percentage of 34.8 percent. He has a much bigger sample size for his career. This year has shown that Doncic is an elite three-level scorer. It is a major reason he is an MVP candidate. However, his improvement from three-point territory should garner more recognition as it has opened his game in a huge way. Opposing defenses can no longer sag off him and expect the four-time All-NBA Team member to miss wide open shots from the perimeter.
Can Luka Doncic Make a Late Push for League MVP?
Doncic has been making a late surge for the league MVP. Dallas is currently in the fifth seed with a win-loss record of 48-30 as of April 9th, 2024. Doncic currently has odds of +650 odds of winning the MVP award per Vegas Insider, only trailing Denver’s Nikola Jokic and Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo. If he continues to play at his current rate and potentially elevate Dallas to a top-four seed, these odds could certainly improve. It is no secret that Luka Doncic has had a special season. If he continues his hot streak from three-point range, the Dallas Mavericks are going to be an extremely tough matchup for anyone in the first round of the playoffs.
