LOS ANGELES – El Matador. Wonder Boy. El Niño Maravilla. Luka Magic. These are just a few of Luka Dončić’s nicknames.
Each of them is meant to capture an aspect of his greatness, but maybe instead of a catchy
slogan, we can just call Luka what he is: the best player in the NBA.
While that might sound hyperbolic or the talk of someone who is becoming a prisoner of the moment, Luka is quickly making a compelling case this year.
In the season opener, he had a 43-point performance in the Lakers’ loss to the Warriors. His encore was even more stellar, and this time, it came in a victory.
Luka scored 49 points in the Lakers’ 128-110 win over the Wolves. His 92 points in the first two games of the season are the most by a Laker since Jerry West scored 81 to begin the 1969-70 campaign.
“I was sitting in the first quarter, I got out of the game, and I was just sitting, and Luka was already at 17 points,” Rui Hachimura said postgame. “I was talking to Bronny and I was like, ‘This is crazy.’ It just doesn’t feel like it. It’s so easy for him, the basketball is.”
They say mastery is when a person makes the difficult look simple, and Luka does that every night.
He had plenty of examples of this against the Wolves. It didn’t matter how physical Jaden McDaniels or Donte DiVincenzo were with Luka, they couldn’t speed him up or slow him down. He just lightly jogged to his spot on the floor and scored over them time and time again.
While the end of the game had a celebratory feel for the Lakers and their fans, early on, it was anyone’s game.
Luka was monstrous in the opening quarter, scoring 23 points by himself. In the second quarter, the other parts of his game began to flourish.
He was taking on his defensive assignments better and holding his own. Dončić also grabbed four rebounds, had two assists and went 10-12 from the free throw line during the opening half.
“He became a willing passer,” head coach JJ Redick said. “Defensively, early, thought they really attacked him. He responded to that. His defense, from halfway through the first quarter on, was really good. And then just you get 11 rebounds out of your point guard is just awesome. So just a complete, complete game from him tonight.”
While the third quarter has been the Achilles’ heel for the Lakers for well over a year now, on Friday, the Lakers never let go of the rope.
Luka remained as dominant as ever. He had driving floaters, defensive rebounds that led to dunks on the other end and even a Steph Curry-esque shimmy after a dagger 3-pointer.
The crowd’s energy rose in tandem with Luka’s scoring and the passage of playing time. As Luka walked towards the foul line late in the fourth, with the result all but secured, MVP chants began to rain down in Southern California.
Luka was, without question, the best player inside Crypto.com Arena. And that’s including a Wolves team that employs one of the best interior defenders ever in Rudy Gobert, a bright young superstar in Anthony Edwards and Luka’s own partner in crime, LeBron James, who is currently out, but was in attendance cheering from the bench.
However, comparing any of them to Luka on Friday was like comparing a candle to the Sun; they are all shining, but one is far brighter.
It’s very likely 40-point games won’t be the norm for Luka. This kind of production isn’t sustainable in the long term. Yet the fact that he can easily reach this level demonstrates that he has gears that very few NBA players have.
Luka has already accomplished so much in the NBA. He’s a 5-time All-NBA player, a 5-time All-Star and led the Dallas Mavericks to an NBA Finals appearance.
However, the biggest objectives are still on his to-do list. Luka doesn’t have an NBA MVP Award and hasn’t hoisted the Larry O’Brien trophy.
If he keeps playing like he did on Friday night, the question will not be if he will ever do these things; it’ll be when, how many times and for how long.
Now that he signed an extension with the Lakers, Los Angeles can rest assured that when these moments happen, they’ll occur with Luka donning a purple and gold uniform.
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.
