Just when you think Luka Doncic can’t get any better, he manages to one-up himself. That was the case on Friday night, as the Los Angeles Lakers picked up a big 124-118 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers, with Doncic once again leading the way for his team with a 53-point outburst, the latest spectacular performance in his historic start to the season.
We’ve known for years that Doncic is one of the greatest scorers the NBA has ever seen, but he has taken his game to another level to begin the season. It’s still very early in the year, but if you ask one of Doncic’s newest teammates, Walker Kessler, he believes there is no doubt that the Slovenian superstar is the early frontrunner for the league’s MVP Award.
Walker Kessler Hits Luka Doncic With MVP Praise
Doncic’s talent isn’t really much of a surprise to anyone at this point. He’s earned six All-Star selections and All-NBA First Team honors apiece so far in his career, while also leading the league in scoring in two of the past three seasons. And yet, we have never seen Doncic play at this sort of level before.
Through nine games, Doncic is scoring at a rate the NBA hasn’t seen since the days of Wilt Chamberlain. Doncic is once again leading the league in scoring with an absurd 40.1 points per game, but he is doing that while shooting career highs across the board (49.8% from the field, 41.9% from three, and 87.3% from the free-throw line). Beyond that, he’s still averaging 7.8 rebounds and 7.7 assists per game.
With LeBron James no longer in town, it was clear that Doncic was going to have to shoulder more responsibility on offense, but he has had no problem doing that to this point. After witnessing his latest heroics against the Trail Blazers, Kessler was almost at a loss for words when discussing Doncic’s performance, but he did make it abundantly clear that he believes he’s the NBA’s early MVP frontrunner.
“I’m biased, obviously, but he’s averaging, what, 38 (points) or something ridiculous. 40, there you go,” Kessler said when speaking to reporters. “He’s incredible to watch. He’s incredible to play alongside. He’s my MVP, I think it’s pretty clear right now.”
Could Luka Doncic Average 40 Points per Game for the Lakers This Season?
We’ve seen hot streaks from Doncic throughout his career, but it’s tough to say he’s ever had a better nine-game stretch of action than the one he has enjoyed to begin the season. He’s scored at least 40 points in his past four games, and again, it’s not as if he is just chucking up shots and hoping for the best. Doncic’s efficiency has taken a massive leap at every level, so it’s fair to wonder if this is actually sustainable.
At some point, Doncic will probably regress towards the mean, but he’s going to be taking around 25 shots per game for the majority of the season, which will allow him the opportunity to put up massive amounts of points on a nightly basis. Los Angeles is only concerned about winning games, but in order to do so, it may need Herculean efforts from Doncic every night. To this point, though, he has proven to be more than capable of taking on that challenge.
Walker Kessler Makes Thoughts on Luka Doncic Extremely Clear After Lakers Latest Win