Luka Dončić is already drawing Kobe Bryant comparisons in Los Angeles, and he’s handling them the way you’d expect from a superstar who’s just getting started in a Lakers jersey: with respect.
After a third straight game with at least 40 points, Dončić was asked about Kendrick Perkins saying he’s the closest player he’s seen to Bryant from a mentality standpoint. Dončić took the compliment seriously.
“It’s a lot of honor... He was an idol for a lot of people, so it means a lot that I’m mentioned next to his name.”
That kind of praise is not small stuff in Los Angeles. Bryant spent 20 years with the Lakers and built a legacy around championships, obsessive preparation, and the Mamba Mentality. Dončić has only been in purple and gold for 100 games, with Wednesday’s matchup against the Sacramento Kings marking that milestone, but he’s already producing at a level that puts him in rare company.
His latest scoring burst pushed him to 308 points through his first eight games of the season, the most by any player in that span since Wilt Chamberlain had 418 in the 1962-63 season. At 38.5 points per game, Dončić also joined Chamberlain as the only players since 1960-61 to record five 40-point games through their first eight games of a season, according to Lakers PR.
That’s the kind of production that naturally drags big names into the conversation. Dončić is being mentioned alongside Bryant, Michael Jordan and Chamberlain, and in Lakers circles that means something. Bryant is widely viewed as the franchise’s greatest player, and Dončić is already making his own case to stand with the other icons in the organization’s history, including Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Shaquille O’Neal.
The bigger picture is even more striking. Dončić isn’t just piling up points in isolated games; he’s separating himself from the rest of the league’s elite scorers while chasing what would be his third scoring title and first NBA MVP award. The season is still young, and the grind is long, but the pace he’s on is impossible to ignore.
For now, the Lakers are watching a player they traded for in 2025 look every bit like the scorer they believed they were getting.
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Kellerman saw James departure as the opening that let Luka Doncic settle in as the clear leader, while Paul pushed back on the idea that James leaving was the key variable. He pointed instead to the Lakers improved defense and the way the roster has come together, leaving the larger question hanging over a team that has started to look comfortable without the player who defined it for so long. [Read more 🡒]