As Luka Dončić sets the league aflame with an unparalleled scoring run to open the season, he’s leaving a trail of awestruck opponents in his wake.
When he dropped 42 points on the Heat at the start of the week, Giannis Antetokounmpo was certain to make sure his standing in the league all-time, not just current, was known.
“When you have a guy like Luka, obviously he’s one of the best scorers to ever play this game, if not the best,” Giannis said before a reporter added a “right now” at the end of his statement.
“Not right now, not right now. Of all time. I feel like some people are scared to say that but it’s gotta be up there.”
A few days later, Luka scored 42 against the Kings, prompting a similar compliment from Zach LaVine.
As a brief aside, LaVine had also had a funny interaction with Austin Reaves during his postgame presser after Reaves accidentally walked into the wrong room.
As for Luka, his performances are hard to properly describe at this point. He’s putting up numbers that we haven’t seen in a long time. The only way to properly qualify what he’s doing is to put it in an all-time context, because no one in the league has done this before.
And that’s how both Giannis and LaVine framed it. Granted, NBA players often aren’t the best at putting things in proper context — look no further than their All-Star voting — but they’re also the only ones with firsthand experience.
If Luka is leaving them repeating a similar sort of sentiment, then it’s hard not to agree.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.
