Luka Doncic is off to a historic start to his first full season with the Los Angeles Lakers. The five-time NBA All-Star scored 43 points in Tuesday’s opener against the Golden State Warriors and 49 points in Friday’s win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, giving him 92 points across two outings. That is the most points by a Lakers player in the first two games of a season, outdoing the 81 points Jerry West amassed in 1969.
The 92 points also placed Dončić ahead of Michael Jordan for the fourth-most in the first two games of a season in NBA history.
“It’s felt great,” Dončić said of his electric start to the year. “We should have won the first game, but obviously it’s a good comeback. Minnesota is a great team. We had to do a lot to win today. But myself, I feel great. Just trying to win every game.”
Dončić has been one of the league’s most prolific scorers since his arrival in 2018 as the No. 3 overall pick. He won the NBA scoring title in 2024 and averaged at least 27.7 points every year after his rookie campaign. This two-game stretch is uniquely productive, though. The last time Dončić had scored at least 40 points in consecutive games was over a calendar year ago in February 2024, and he had not totaled 92 points over a two-game span since his 73-point outburst earlier that season.
The Lakers will rely more heavily on Dončić in the early going with LeBron James on the shelf due to sciatica. James is reportedly targeting a mid-November season debut, which gives Dončić about a month of runway as the unquestioned leader of the Lakers’ lineup.
James’ absence, in some ways, makes Dončić’s scoring even more impressive. With two stars in the lineup, defenses have to stay more honest against them individually. Dončić may now draw more attention than he would as part of a tandem with James, but that did not hamper him in the slightest this week. That’s not to mention that he strung together this impressive stretch against two of the NBA’s better defenses.
It is not as though Dončić has only been able to hang his hat on his scoring, either. He racked up 23 rebounds and 17 assists across the two games, flexing the do-it-all ability that makes him one of the world’s most renowned stars.
