Getty Image / Tim Heitman
It’s no secret that Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Dončić is one of the most talented players to ever pick up a basketball. In his first five years in the NBA, he made four straight All-NBA first teams, one of just a few players to ever do it.
But, the 24-year-old Slovenian is on an all-time heater, with a 73-point night against the Atlanta Hawks on Friday a highlight of what’s been a remarkable season.
He picked up where he left off on Friday with another incredible performance on Monday. Luka Dončić had 45 points, 15 assists, and 9 rebounds on the night, leading the Mavericks to a come-from-behind 131-129 win at home over the Orlando Magic.
Luka Doncic and Tim Hardaway Jr. combined for 81 POINTS in the Mavericks' win over the Magic!
Doncic: 45 PTS, 15 AST, 9 REB
Hardaway Jr.: 36 PTS, 5 3PM, 8 REB pic.twitter.com/6WRGFHOB03— NBA (@NBA) January 30, 2024
He’s playing so well that people around the league are just shrugging their shoulders at a 45-point outburst that was also almost a triple-double.
Just how good has he been lately? The only other player to go on this kind of heater was Wilt Chamberlain in the midst of his record 100-point game.
Luka Dončić of the @dallasmavs has scored or assisted on 239 points over his last 3 games.
The only other player in NBA history to account for that many points over a 3-game span is Wilt Chamberlain in Feb/Mar 1962 (246 & 243 in 2 overlapping spans including his 100-point game). pic.twitter.com/JNcrsp1ffw
— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) January 30, 2024
The third game being added in is a 26-point, 17-assist performance in the team’s loss on Saturday to the Kings. Somehow, a 26-point and 17-assist game is the worst game Luka Dončić has played in a three game stretch, which is pretty wild.
On the season, he’s now averaging 34.4 points, 9.4 assists, and 8.6 rebounds on really efficient shooting numbers. He’s having one of the best statistical seasons of any guard in history, and yet is somehow beyond a few players like Nikola Jokić, Joel Embiid, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the MVP race.
The Mavericks are 26-21, good for tied for seventh in the Western Conference standings with the New Orleans Pelicans.