Luka Doncic's former coach, Rick Carlisle — who coaches the Indiana Pacers now — predicted the Dallas Mavericks guard will win the NBA's Most Valuable Player Award this season. Via Sports Illustrated:

“I'm sure he's doing all the right things for him,” Carlisle said. “He's been on the cusp of being the best player in the world. He's right there, and I think he's going to be MVP this year.”

Carlisle coached the Mavericks from 2008 to 2021. He helped mentor Doncic in his first three NBA seasons.

Rick Carlisle resigned after the 2020-21 season. According to ESPN's Tim MacMahon, there was “simmering tension” between Carlisle and Doncic.

Some of that appears to have settled now. Carlisle has coached the Pacers the last two seasons while Doncic has been coached by Jason Kidd.

One year after they advanced to the Western Conference Finals, the Mavericks failed to make the NBA Play-In tournament. They traded for former Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving at the trade deadline, but they were unable to make things work to qualify for the playoffs.

Irving signed a three-year, $120 million contract to stay with the Mavericks this summer. Doncic is entering his second season of a five-year, $215,159,700 contract he signed.

Luka Doncic is 24 years old. This past season, he averaged a career-best 32.4 points per game on 49.6 percent shooting. He also averaged 8.6 rebounds and 8.0 assists per game.

This is an important season for Doncic and the Mavericks. MacMahon has said Doncic could request a trade if this season does not go better for Dallas.