Luka Dončić delivered another masterpiece on Friday night, dropping 53 points to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to a 124-118 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers. The performance pushed the Lakers to an 8-2 record and the top of the Western Conference standings, cementing Dončić as the early runaway favorite for the NBA Most Valuable Player award.
Record-Breaking Scoring
Dončić has now scored at least 35 points in seven consecutive games, becoming only the third player in Lakers history to achieve the feat alongside Kobe Bryant and Elgin Baylor. He also joined Bryant, Baylor and George Mikan as the fourth Laker with four straight 40-point games. Through nine games, Dončić is averaging 40.1 points per game, a mark only Wilt Chamberlain has reached through the first nine games of a season. His two 50-point outings put him on pace for 16 such games, which would shatter Bryant's non-Chamberlain record of 10 in a single season.
Three-Point Assault
The Slovenian guard has made at least five three-pointers in seven straight games, threatening James Harden's NBA record of 12 consecutive games with five or more made threes. Dončić is averaging 6.0 made three-pointers per game on 13.7 attempts, shooting 41.9 percent from beyond the arc — well above his career 35 percent mark. If he maintains this volume and accuracy over 90 percent of the Lakers' schedule, he would finish with 426 made threes, surpassing Stephen Curry's single-season record of 402.
Defensive Improvement
Despite his reputation as a below-average defender, Dončić has posted a 110.2 defensive rating when on the floor, a top-10 figure league-wide. He is tied for sixth in the NBA with 15 steals and shares the league lead with four charges drawn. Opponents are shooting just 32.3 percent overall and only 21.9 percent on two-point attempts when defended by Dončić, the best marks among players contesting at least 12 and 30 shots per game, respectively.
Offensive Engine
The Lakers' offense operates at a historic 130.9 offensive rating with Dončić on the court, which would stand as an NBA record. Without him, that rating plummets to 99.1, the worst in the league. Through 10 games, Los Angeles has outscored opponents by 140 points in Dončić's minutes and been outscored by 63 points when he rests, a net swing of 203 points that underscores his MVP-caliber impact.
