MEMPHIS, Tenn. — When Luka Doncic scored 44 points in his return to the floor from a three-game injury absence during the Lakers’ 117-112 win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night at FedExForum, the 26-year-old star guard joined Wilt Chamberlain in the league’s history books for his start to the season.
The question after his performance – and one Doncic and multiple teammates of his have addressed – is whether he can join the Hall of Fame center in the history books for another reason.
Doncic’s scoring total against the Grizzlies marked his third consecutive 40-point performance to open the season, following the 43 points he scored in the season-opening loss to the Golden State Warriors on Oct. 21 and the 49 points he had in the Oct. 24 win against the Minnesota Timberwolves before sitting out for a few games because of a finger injury and a lower leg injury.
He and Chamberlain are the only players in league history to begin a season with three consecutive 40-point games, with Chamberlain achieving the feat twice: seven games in the 1962-63 season and five games in the 1961-62 season.
Could Doncic, who’s averaging 45.3 points (58.4% shooting, 35.1% on 3-pointers) to go along with 11.7 rebounds and 7.7 assists, join Chamberlain as the only players in league history to average at least 40 points for an entire season?
“That’s gonna be tough,” Doncic responded when posed the question after Friday’s win. “Sometimes they’re going to double [team] me more. Sometimes I won’t be able to score that much. I had, I think, three or four shots [on Friday] that [were] crazy shots that I felt like doing, but they were terrible shots. I’ve got to work on that. But that’s tough. I don’t know.”
Doncic’s teammates have more confidence in him.
Austin Reaves told ESPN after the first win over the Timberwolves that he believes Doncic could average 40 points for a season, and it would help the team win.
When this message was relayed to Doncic on Friday, he had a simple quip for the teammate he’s developed a playful relationship with: “Austin’s stupid.”
Chamberlain isn’t just the only player to average at least 40 points in a season – a feat that he last accomplished over 60 years ago. He’s also the only player to average at least 38 points for an entire season, averaging 38.4 in 1960-61.
Besides Chamberlain, the only other player to average at least 37 points for an entire year was Hall of Fame guard Michael Jordan, who averaged a career-best 37.1 points during the 1986-87 season.
But Reaves isn’t the only one who believes Doncic could record a scoring average that’s only been achieved twice, both by Chamberlain: 50.4 points per game in 1961-62 and 44.8 points in 1962-63.
Lakers veteran guard Marcus Smart expressed belief in Doncic’s ability to average 40 points this season.
“I don’t see why not,” Smart said. “He has a lot of help on the wings for him, guys that are coming in, guys that are willing to do a good job of trying to make his job easier. He can do those things and help this team win.”
Smart also believes other players could average 40 points if given the opportunity.
Two other players entered Saturday averaging at least 35 points: Milwaukee Bucks star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (36.3 points on 69.5% shooting) and Philadelphia 76ers star guard Tyrese Maxey (35.2 points on 46.2% shooting, 46.8% on 3s).
“All you need is opportunity,” Smart said. “What people don’t understand is, there’s a lot of great scorers, there’s a lot of people that can do a lot of things out here, but they don’t have the [same] opportunity as other people. So they get put in a box or they get put in the responsibility [of their role], and the team is going to let somebody else do it. And no matter what they do, they can’t break out of it. Unfortunately, you [have] to play the game within the game.
“There [are] definitely players in this league – a lot more – that on any given night can do what Luka is doing. But to see the way Luka is doing it consistently, it’s incredible.”
MIAMI HEAT AT LAKERS
When: 6:30 p.m. Sunday
Where: Crypto.com Arena
TV/Radio: Spectrum SportsNet/710 AM