Luka Doncic received the ESPY award for 2024 NBA Player of the Year on Thursday, ahead of the ceremony.
The ESPYs, ESPN’s sports awards program that has been running since 1993, are voted by fans, and Doncic defeated fellow finalists Nikola Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Jayson Tatum. Jokic won the 2024 MVP title in May, while Doncic finished third.
Doncic’s ESPY triumph came after the best season of his NBA career. He led the league in scoring at 33.9 points per game and led the Mavericks to their first NBA Finals appearance since 2011. Doncic and the Mavericks went on an impressive run, defeating a higher-seeded opponent in each round of the Western Conference Playoffs, culminating in a dominant five-game victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference Playoffs, where Doncic drilled a game-winning shot on the road in the final seconds of Game 2 and won the Western Conference Finals MVP award. Dallas’ season concluded with a five-game loss to the Boston Celtics in the 2024 NBA Finals.
Other season highlights included Doncic’s career-high 73-point outburst against the Atlanta Hawks (the fourth most points scored in a single game in NBA history), starting another All-Star game, and receiving his fifth consecutive All-NBA First Team selection. Doncic also established a career high for triple doubles this season, with 21.
Doncic’s basketball season is currently finished as Slovenia lost to Greece in an Olympic qualification match. The Mavericks superstar will have three months to rest and prepare for the upcoming NBA season, which begins in late October. He will be joined by new teammate Klay Thompson, a four-time NBA champion signed in early July, to help keep the Mavericks in championship contention.
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