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Luka Doncic #77 of the Los Angeles Lakers makes a slam dunk against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second half at Crypto.com Arena on March 31, 2026 in Los Angeles, California.
Slovenian guard Luka Doncic strengthened his NBA MVP case on Tuesday night with a 42-point masterpiece against the Cleveland Cavaliers, while leading the Los Angeles Lakers to their 50th win of the season.
The performance marked Doncic’s seventh 40-point game in March, a month that saw the Lakers star tally a staggering 37.7 points, 8.0 rebounds and 7.4 assists, while leading his team to a 14-2 record in the month.
Surely, Doncic has done enough to convince MVP voters?
After Tuesday’s win, Doncic refused to campaign for the award himself, unlike another top contender — the San Antonio Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama.
“I never did that,” Doncic said of putting his name in the NBA MVP mix.
“I’m not the one voting, so, you know, but I think I’ve been playing pretty good. We’ve been winning. That’s it. That’s all I gotta say.”
Luka Doncic Surpasses Kobe Bryant
With a grand tally of 600 points, 128 rebounds, 118 assists and 80 made threes in the month of March, Doncic made history on several fronts. First, he became just the 10th player in NBA history to score 600 or more points in a month. Furthermore, he surpassed Kobe Bryant’s record for most points in a single month in Lakers history.
By the end of Tuesday’s win, Doncic had amassed a total of 15,009 points in the regular season from just 513 games, becoming the third youngest player in NBA history (27 years, 31 days) to reach the milestone of 15,000 points. Again, he surpassed Bryant.
Per StatuMuse, Doncic also became the first player ever to record 500+ points, 35+ steals and 50+ threes in a month.
Luka Doncic MVP Case
After the win, Doncic minimized the fact that he surpassed Bryant’s Lakers record.
“I mean, if you don’t win, it doesn’t really mean anything,” Doncic said of historic feats. “The run we’ve been on, it means a lot. So, we gotta just keep playing like that.”
Doncic’s teammates weren’t as humble, with head coach JJ Redick and Rui Hachimura openly campaigning for the Slovenian to win MVP after Tuesday’s win.
“You can see he’s the MVP,” Hachimura said, via BasketNews. “I don’t really know everything about it, but I can only see he’s the MVP of this league. What he does, what he brings to the game every game.
“People talk about his defense, but he’s been getting good stops, steals, boxing out. Those little stuff he’s been doing on the court… it’s been amazing.”
Redick, an NBA veteran of over twenty years, said he had never seen a player enjoy a more productive month than Doncic did in March.
“Luka has had as good a month as anybody I can remember in modern NBA, at least since I’ve been part of it,” Redick said.
“Certainly LeBron [James] has had those, James Harden has had those, Steph Curry has had those, but he just played phenomenally this month.”
If Doncic doesn’t win MVP, he’ll become the first player ever to clinch multiple scoring titles on 50-win teams without being rewarded with the Michael Jordan Trophy. He missed out on the award in 2023-24 when he averaged a career-best 33.9 points.
Sai Mohan covers the NBA for Heavy.com. Based in Portugal, Sai is a seasoned sports writer with nearly two decades of publishing experience, including bylines at Yardbarker, FanSided’s Hoops Habit, International Business Times, Hindustan Times and more. More about Sai Mohan
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