In this solo monologue, Draymond Green breaks down the early‑season landscape of the 2022‑23 NBA MVP race, highlighting the extraordinary statistical outputs of several super‑stars and discussing how conditioning, early‑season perception, and team success influence MVP voting. He opens with Luka Dončić’s 60‑point, 20‑rebound, 11‑assist night, attributing Dončić’s MVP‑caliber play to his superior conditioning after a EuroBasket stint, contrasting it with his post‑Olympic slump two years prior. Green then surveys other recent high‑scoring feats—Donovan Mitchell’s 71 points, Klay Thompson’s 54, and Nikola Jokić’s consistent triple‑double production—praising the talent level while noting the offensive advantage in the modern game and lamenting the limited freedom defenders enjoy. He evaluates each leading MVP candidate—Jokić, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jayson Tatum, Kevin Durant, Joel Embiid, and the injured Stephen Curry—considering individual stats, team records, and narrative momentum. Green concludes that the race is a “logjam” with no clear frontrunner at this point, emphasizing the remaining 40‑plus games and promising to update his view as the season progresses. Throughout, he balances admiration for elite performances with a critical eye on voting dynamics and the evolving skill ceiling of the NBA.
Chapters
Luka Dončić, um, last week had 60 points, 20 rebounds, 21 rebounds, and 11 assists. 10 assists, 10 or 11 assists, whatever it was. Absolutely insane, incredible numbers. Um, I think he accounted for 88 of like their 120 points or something. It's crazy. Luka is special. And it's interesting to see Luka having the year he's having. Why is it interesting, Draymond? It's interesting because the one gripe on Luka that everyone has had is, oh, he's never, he's not in shape and blah, blah, blah this. And here's what I wanna say and where I saw growth from Luka. Last year, 2 years ago, were the Olympics. You come off the Olympics, been playing, you in the season, go straight into the Olympics, you're tired. Probably take a little break. And so last year, Luka didn't come into the season in the best shape that he could come in. This year, Luka played in EuroBasket and came in in tip-top shape and is having the MVP year that all expected. See, I think the thing that people don't realize is in, you know, in most cases, in order to have an MVP, MVP year, you have to come into the season in tip-top shape. It's hard to work your way into shape and then still be an MVP because those, you start ringing up in people's head. Remember, these are human beings making these decisions, not computers. And so you start to gain space in people's minds the start of the season. And Luka came into this season in tip-top shape and it is showing. It's showing in a major way. And he is 1000% playing at an MVP level as is others, which we'll get into. But I think to see them lose Draymond Green and they kind of were struggling early on and they didn't make any moves. I think Luka just picked it up more, you know, and the growth I think of Luka has been extremely, extremely pleasing to, The Mavericks, the NBA, basketball fans across the world. Like one of the most special players we have in our league and the performance that he had last week is just another step. I mean, the things that he's able to do and just capable of is absolutely incredible. Donovan Mitchell last night, 71. 71. Draymond Green, 71 points, 10 assists, 8 rebounds. Now it's funny 'cause someone asked me today, they said, what do you make of these numbers that guys are putting up? And quite frankly, special, special talents. Like the guys in this league are extremely talented. The game continues to grow. And you have to pay homage to guys that are scoring the basketball like that. I don't care what it is, that's hard to do. And to watch those guys doing it, it's absolutely incredible. Klay Thompson with 54 last night. It was great to see Klay really just locked into the moment, taking the challenge head on with no Steph, no Wigs, and the list goes on. But also to see Klay Thompson look like the Klay Thompson we, we, we've all had the pleasure and honor of watching compete at this level. Um, it was absolutely beautiful. I also think for his confidence, for him to continue to prove to himself— see, everyone always makes it about, oh man, he need to prove this, or he need to prove that, as if you're proving that to them. No, no, sometimes you just need to prove something to yourself. And so for him to have a performance like that, to continue to prove to himself that I can get back to who I once was or better, and have a— have something that you can look to and say, see, because I did this. That's absolutely incredible. And I mean, shout out to Klay, uh, for the game that he had. Now, in saying all of that, I think, uh, You know, when, and speaking in terms of the NBA and in terms of the number, quite frankly, I think the offense do have the advantage. You know, when you speak of freedom of movement, when you, you know, you see some of the nuances that guys use to get to the foul line. Like I think the offense definitely has an advantage. But in saying that, you still have to go score those points. And so I don't want to take anything away from these guys who's scoring at these levels 'cause it's absolutely incredible. But as a defender myself, I do wish that there were more freedom for defenders as there is for offensive players. Quite frankly, I'm not sure that'll ever happen, nor is it something I'm really lobbying for. It just kind of is what it is. And so no, I don't, I don't take anything away from these numbers that guys are getting. Not one bit. They're very— hard numbers to get. And if they weren't, we'd see someone doing it every day. We don't see it every day. However, we see it a little more often because the NBA is just way more talented and skilled than it's ever been. That's no knock. I know everyone wants to find controversy, and that's no knock to players that came before. But, and I always say this, but I bet you someone who worked at Google 20 years ago And someone that goes and work at Google today will probably walk in and say, ah, their skillset is just a little bit different than mine was when I was here 20 years ago. And so in saying that, I think the NBA is a lot more skilled and there's just a lot more talent in the league. And so you're just starting to see these things happen more often. But, I still wish there was a little more freedom for guys like myself, the defend— the defenders. That's neither here nor there. Other guys that we have playing at an MVP level, uh, Joker, who's averaging 26, 11 rebounds, and 9.5 assists, sitting at the 1 seed, possibly on his way to a 3rd straight MVP. Pretty impressive. Obviously one of the toughest guards in the NBA had a battle with him in the playoffs last year. And I mean, Joker is a very, very, very special talent. And he continues to show that year in and year out. Giannis is playing at an MVP level. Giannis is averaging 32, 12, and 5. Think his team is sitting at the number 1 or number 2 seed. Yeah. All incredible things. JT, who we had on this show last year, last season, and I said, if you don't win MVP next year, if I'm not mistaken, I may have said something along the lines of you weak as poop. He's playing at that level. He has his team playing at that level. And it's an absolute— He's a beast. An absolutely beautiful thing to see. KD, who Brooklyn Nets are sitting at the 2 seed. KD's averaging 37 and 5. Not quite sure anybody expected KD to be at an— back at an MVP level. And not because Kevin Durant doesn't always play at an MVP level, because quite frankly, we've seen this for years, especially we've seen this a lot with LeBron James. It's just, you're so good. Yeah. That when you're that good, people just, they start to not appreciate it. And so to think that KD can play again at the level to where people would appreciate it enough to even mention him in the MVP conversation as opposed to just being like, oh man, that's just Kevin and that's what he does, shows you how special of a season he has. They're having a much better— they completely changed their season, making the change to Jaquan. Jaquan's been incredible. But more so than him being incredible, like I'm not in their huddles, I'm not in their arena, I'm not in their facility. Just watching the respect that he's commanded from that team, I think is huge. And I think it's a big part of the reason that they've won 12 in a row. They're sitting at the 2 seed with no signs of slowing down. I think it's a beautiful thing to see. KD kept talking about, oh man, I just want to play basketball. They've been playing basketball with no distractions and it's looking good for them. And so, um, that's great as well. Now you got Joel Embiid who's playing incredible basketball. Um, I think Joel Embiid is averaging more points than Luka Dončić by a tad. Now that could have changed over the course of the last couple days, but A few days ago, he was averaging more points, definitely averaging more rebounds, and his team has a better record. So now you have to take all of those things into account when speaking of the MVP voting as well. Quite frankly, I'm interested in— and obviously Steph was playing at an MVP level before he got hurt. Our team record wasn't what it needed to be for people to talk about him in the MVP conversation. Yet our team record will end where it needs to be for him to be in the MVP conversation. Quite frankly, I don't think he'll be out too much longer. At least that's my hope. And he'll still have an opportunity to compete for that award. And as we continue to move our season in the right direction, I think he'll enter those talks as well. But I must say, this must be one of the most— logjam MVP race conversations. Obviously we're only almost halfway through the season in a very long time. And not that, you know, there hasn't been one or two guys that need an MVP, but you're talking 5 or 6 guys that you can legitimately right now make a case for MVP. And that's insane. But Obviously we know there will be one. And I mean, if I had to make my pick right now, only because Steph's hurt, that's an interesting one. Draymond Green. That's a very interesting one because you know, you start to say a name and it's like, wait a minute, that guy. You start to say, wait a minute, what about that guy? It's going to be interesting. If I'm being honest, I'm not, I'm not one to, as I said before, say something for ratings. I don't know. I think we still have a lot of basketball left to be played, a lot of basketball to watch. And figure it out. But if I must say, there's no MVP today. There are 4 or 5 guys in the running, and we'll see. Some will fade, some will come, some will go. But I don't have an MVP today. I think it's way too close to call. In saying that, we still got, what, 44— 44 games. Give it, take 40 to 43 games left, I think it's too close to call. So I don't really have an MVP for you today. My apologies. As this thing plays out a little more, we get some more games under our belt, I will let our listeners and subscribers know who I think the MVP is. But right now, I think it's way too close to call. Draymond Green.
