nba
Luka Doncic scores 53, pushes scoring average past 40 for Lakers
Doncic is averaging 40.1 points through nine games, a mark no NBA player has reached since Wilt Chamberlain in 1962-63. He scored 53 in Friday's win over Portland.
Luka Doncic scored a season-high 53 points Friday to lead the Los Angeles Lakers past the Portland Trail Blazers 124-118, pushing his scoring average to 40.1 points per game, ESPN reported.
No NBA player has averaged 40 points in a season since Wilt Chamberlain in 1962-63. Chamberlain is the only player to score more than Doncic’s 361 points through nine games in a season.
“Luka can do some things that maybe a handful, if not no one, can do in basketball,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said.
Doncic exceeded 40 points for the sixth time this season and topped 50 for the second. He joined Kobe Bryant, Elgin Baylor and George Mikan as the only Lakers to score at least 40 points in four consecutive games.
Blazers coach Micah Nori called Doncic “the MVP right now. Hands down.”
What the coverage missed
ESPN’s report puts Doncic in historical context. It does not explain why he is doing this now.
LeBron James left the Lakers for the Philadelphia 76ers in the offseason. For the first time in Doncic’s Lakers career, the offense runs through him completely. He is leading the league in scoring, shot attempts, 3-point attempts, free throw attempts, usage rate, player efficiency rating and win shares. Those numbers are not a coincidence. They are what happens when a 27-year-old generational scorer does not have to share the ball.
Doncic’s career high for a season is 33.9 points per game with Dallas in 2023-24. He is currently seven points above that. The question is whether it lasts. Doncic himself noted that the season is 10 games old and 72 remain.
The names he is chasing are the names that define NBA scoring. Chamberlain averaged 50.4 in 1961-62 and 44.8 in 1962-63. Michael Jordan averaged 37.1 in 1986-87. James Harden averaged 36.1 in 2018-19. Bryant averaged 35.4 in 2005-06. Doncic is ahead of all of them through nine games.
What I think
The average will come down. It always does. The schedule gets harder, the legs get tired, and defenses adjust. But Doncic does not need to maintain 40.1 to make this season historic. If he finishes at 36 or 37, he joins Jordan and Harden in the conversation. If he holds at 38 or 39, he passes Bryant.
What is different is the context. Doncic is doing this as a Laker, in the building where Bryant scored 81, where Kareem and Magic built their legacies. LeBron’s departure was supposed to be a step back. Instead, it unlocked the best player on the team.
The Lakers are 8-2 and first in the Western Conference. Doncic is the reason. The trade that brought him from Dallas for Anthony Davis was criticized at the time. It looks different now. The Lakers got the better player, and he is playing like it.