Last season, Luka Doncic led the Dallas Mavericks to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2011. He put up incredible statistics and led the league with 33.9 points per game and averaged 9.2 rebounds and 9.8 assists. He averaged nearly a triple-double during a Finals season.

And yet Doncic finished third in 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 with the result, and who could blame them when you put up numbers like Doncic? Claims that the media hates Doncic or prefers the narrative of players like Jokic or Gilgeous-Alexander have flown back and forth across the internet.

The claims were mostly true. Doncic has developed a reputation for complaining too loudly and too often to the referees, which angers many in the media. Gilgeous-Alexander leading a young Thunder team to number one is a good story. So Jokic wins his third MVP award while putting the Nuggets in their place with dazzling passes and a barely disinterested shrug.

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

The NBA awards we care about will never be the objective, purely statistical results that so many strive for. Basketball isn’t played on spreadsheets, in the pages of Basketball Reference, or in the cute graphics of a Stats Muse account. It’s performance art on a 94-foot stage and the people playing the roles are just as important as the numbers.

These people’s narratives are important too, and that’s why Doncic can finally win his first MVP award this season. The Mavericks, fresh off a Finals appearance, are no longer the underdogs. Doncic has a supporting cast that can keep up with him. There should be no adjustment period or a slow start.

He fell in the championship round to an overpowering Boston Celtics team and returned the next season with a mission focused on winning every game. Using that Luka magic to help the Mavericks win games they shouldn’t have won for the second night in a row. Everyone assumes that as the number one team on a popular Thunder team, they can once again assert themselves as the top team in the West. Putting up eye-popping numbers for an entire season. All while laughing with his teammates instead of complaining to the referees.

This is a narrative the world wants to see. And it’s there for Doncic if he wants it. Hopefully we get to see it this season.