For the first time in seven years, Los Angeles Lakers‘ star guard Luka Doncic is not a preseason favorite to win the NBA MVP award, and many of the league’s top decision-makers agree with that sentiment, despite all the buzz around him in his first year set to lead the Purple and Gold.
In every season from 2020 to 2026, Doncic was one of the top-three MVP favorites in each of those years. That has now changed, as Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs is the odds-on favorite to win the award in 2026-27.
In what might be seen as more bad news for the Lakers and Doncic’s MVP hopes, a recent survey published on NBA.com asking general managers around the league about what they expect for the upcoming season found that neither the Los Angeles franchise or it’s star were painted in high regard compared to some of the other title-contenders and superstars in the NBA.
Luka Doncic MVP Odds Take Brutal Turn
Despite his eye-popping stats over the past few years, and the expectation he’ll do the same this year, Doncic is not one of the top favorites to win the MVP award this season, at least according to the new GM survey.
“Los Angeles Lakers superstar Luka Doncic was surprisingly left without a single vote in the NBA GM Survey MVP prediction for the 2026-27 season despite coming off another dominant individual campaign,” Basketnews.com wrote. “Victor Wembanyama received 77% of the vote to win his first MVP award, while Nikola Jokic followed with 10% and Anthony Edwards received 7%. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jayson Tatum also received votes, leaving Doncic completely outside the field.”
Doncic finished fourth in the MVP race last season, but failed to get a first-place vote despite leading the NBA in scoring with 33.5 points per game.
He’s only gotten first-place votes on time in his career (2023-24 with the Dallas Mavericks), but as Maxwell Ogden wrote for LakeShowLife.com, Doncic still has a strong resume and the team around him to be firmly in the MVP race this season.
“The fact that Edwards and Tatum made it over Doncic, however, is a tough pill to swallow. That’s by no means due to their extraordinary talent levels, as both could be in the running for the award if they play up to their full abilities in 2026-27,” he wrote. “Hopefully Doncic turns this early slight into bulletin board material and makes himself undeniable in MVP debates. One simply can’t help but feel as though the snub campaign has already begun.”
Doncic remains in the running for the MVP honor this season, but as the general managers voted, they don’t think he’ll end up winning the award.
Lakers Handed Tough Outlook Before Season
Along with the Doncic MVP snub, the Lakers as a team were also handed a brutal outlook on the upcoming season, according to the general manager survey.
According to the league’s top decision-makers, Los Angeles is expected to finish sixth in the Western Conference to just barely skirt past the Play-In tournament.
GMs believe the Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs, Minnesota Timberwolves, Denver Nuggets, and Houston Rockets will all finish with better regular season records than the Lakers.
The team’s over/under win totals for the upcoming season are around 44 to 48 wins, which likely puts them at the sixth seed.
The team underwent major changes this offseason, highlighted by losing LeBron James and some of their other key role players. Los Angeles did land Walker Kessler and some new backup depth, but it remains to be seen how this new-look roster will play together over the course of a season.
Interestingly enough, the Lakers weren’t among the top-five teams GMs think had the best offseason, which could play into the thinking that they’ll be the sixth seed.
General managers still think the Lakers are a playoff team, but don’t expect the group to shine in the regular season, or expect Doncic to finally win his first MVP award.
Luka Doncic Dealt Bad News As Lakers Star Snubbed By Experts