Luka Doncic’s numbers are loud enough to fill a building, but his reaction to the run he’s on was almost disarmingly plain.
The Lakers star has been torching defenses to start the season, averaging 39.6 points over his last five games and stacking up outings of 52, 45 and 41 along the way. Los Angeles has opened 5-2 with Doncic driving the offense, yet he brushed off the idea that he’s locked into anything extraordinary.
“I think it’s pretty okay. As long as we win the game I’m fine,” Doncic said during his postgame press conference after the Lakers’ win against the Toronto Raptors on Monday. “Like I say, I didn’t play for six or seven months, so I’m just trying to find that rhythm and it’s getting better.”
That calm response came after another big night in a season that has already put Doncic at the top of the scoring race. He has played in six of the Lakers’ seven games, sitting out the Oct. 28 win against the LA Clippers because of back injury management.
Through those appearances, he’s averaging 37.7 points, which leads the NBA. He has led the league in scoring twice before, including last season at 33.5 points before the hamstring injury that cut his year short.
The production has been eye-catching, but Lakers coach JJ Redick said it still catches him off guard in the best possible way. Redick has had a close view of Doncic since the 2024-25 trade deadline, and he still sounds like someone trying to describe something that doesn’t quite fit into normal basketball language.
“It feels like a supernova, but it also feels normal,” Redick said during his postgame press conference following the Lakers’ win against the Raptors. “We live on a spaceship and we’re going at the speed of light at all times when he’s on the court.
When he has it going, it’s like pick your poison because he can just make any shot and then you start putting two on the ball and everybody else is the beneficiary of that. He’s a terrific offensive engine.”
Doncic’s impact goes well beyond scoring. He is also averaging 8.2 rebounds, 7.3 assist and 1.8 steals while shooting 48.2 percent from the field, 43.2 percent from 3-point range and 90.2 percent from the free-throw line. His field goal percentage is the second-best of his career, and his 3-point and free-throw numbers are career highs.
He also sits atop the league in several volume categories, including field goals made at 11.3, 3-pointers attempted at 13.5 and made at 5.8, plus free throws attempted at 10.2 and made at 9.2.
For Doncic, the urgency seems tied to how last season ended. He was rolling with the Lakers before a hamstring injury knocked him out for the final stretch of the regular season and the playoffs. That frustration is still fresh enough to color the way he talks about this year’s start.
“It was definitely a lot of frustration at the moment. [We were] like 13-2 in March,” Doncic said.
“I felt like we had a team to compete for a championship. We started playing the best basketball in March, going into the playoffs.
It was a lot of fun out there, so it was very frustrating. The season ended not like we wanted.
So it’s nice to have a little rhythm right now.”
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What stands out is how naturally the ball is moving when Doncic is running the show and his teammates are playing with conviction around him. The Lakers have looked comfortable leaning into that structure early, and the results have been strong enough to make the approach feel sustainable rather than temporary. There is still a long season ahead, but for now the team is showing a version of itself that fans can actually trust. [Read more 🡒]