Last season, Luka Doncic led the Dallas Mavericks to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2011. Along the way, he put up an incredible stat line, leading the league in scoring with 33.9 points per game, as well as averaging 9.2 rebounds and 9.8 assists. He nearly scored a triple-double during a finals season.

And yet Doncic finished third in the MVP voting, behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic, who won the award for the third time in his career. Many Mavs fans were upset by the result, and with numbers like Doncic, who could blame them? Claims that the media hate Doncic or prefer the narrative of players like Jokic or Gilgeous-Alexander flew back and forth across the internet.

The claims were largely true. Doncic has developed a reputation for complaining to the referees too loudly and too often, and that irritates many media members. Gilgeous-Alexander leading a young Thunder team to number one is a good story. Thus, Jokic collects a third MVP award while putting the Nuggets on his back with breathtaking passes and a barely interested shrug.

What’s often forgotten lately is that the NBA is entertainment. We watch these players in our spare time and we want to have fun doing it. It’s more interesting when there are heroes and villains, super teams and underdogs. When players try and fail, try and fail, they ultimately succeed. Like it or not, we all love the hero’s journey.

The NBA awards we care about will never be the objective, purely statistics-based results that many strive for. Basketball isn’t played on spreadsheets, or on the pages of Basketball Reference, or in the cute pictures of a Stats Muse account. It’s performance art on a 100-foot stage, and the people playing the roles are just as important as the songs.

Those people’s storylines are important too, which is why Doncic can finally win his first MVP award this season. Fresh off a finals appearance, the Mavericks are no longer the underdogs. Doncic has a supporting cast that can keep up with him. There should be no adjustment period, no slow start.

Falling to a big-time Boston Celtics team in the championship round, he returned the following season on a mission, with a laser-focused focus on winning every game. Using that Luka Magic to help the Mavericks win games they shouldn’t be playing on the second night of the back-to-back. With the number one seed on a favored Thunder team, everyone expects him to repeat as the top team in the West. Putting down dazzling numbers for an entire season. All while laughing with his teammates, instead of complaining to the referees.

That’s a story the world wants to see. And it’s there for Doncic, if he wants it. Hopefully we get to see that this season.