Luka Dončić was the NBA’s Player of the Night on October 24.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Luka Dončić has begun his first full season with the Lakers on a serious heater.
The Slovenian superstar is off to one of the greatest starts to a season in NBA history, following up his 43-point effort on opening night against Golden State with a 49-point spree in Los Angeles’ victory over Minnesota on Friday night.
After a summer spent getting into top shape, excelling at EuroBasket and settling into Los Angeles, Dončić has become the fourth player in NBA history to begin a season with back-to-back 40-point performances — and he barely missed a triple-double twice, too.
His game has been superb, even if he’s still working out some early-season problems with his celebrations.
After Dončić leaned in, stepped back and buried a beautiful 26-footer over Jaden McDaniels to put the Lakers up by 19 in the fourth quarter, he did a shoulder shimmy that embarrassed him, but delighted a building full of fans who love to see him shine.
“It’s honestly because I don’t know what to do at those moments,” Dončić said with a grin. “I just do some stupid thing, and I don’t know what to do, and that just came out. It’s got to be better. I’ve got to work on it.”
