Is this the best version of Lakers star Luka Dončić we've ever seen? - USA Today

SACRAMENTO – The Los Angeles Lakers aren't even 10 games into the season and superstar Luka Dončić already looks to be in midseason form.

Dončić had his third-consecutive 40-point game, and fifth of the season, as he led the Lakers to a 116-103 win against the Sacramento Kings at Golden 1 Center on Wednesday, Nov. 4. He stuffed the stat sheet with 40 points, nine rebounds, seven assists, one block and one steal.

Dončić leads the league in scoring so far with 38.5 points per game. He eclipsed Michael Jordan for most points through 8 games since the 1988-89 season with his Wednesday performance (Jordan had 303, Dončić reached 308).

Simple and plain, the man is on a heater. And so are the Lakers, now 7-2, after their third straight win.

"Probably this and the entire month of March last year," Lakers head coach JJ Redick said about Dončić and his scoring streak. "I think that back-to-back we had where he closed out Houston (and) ... then we went to Miami and got in at 4 a.m., and then he had 60, I mean, that stretch was pretty magical for him, but he's playing great right now."

Lakers guard Austin Reaves thought Dončić could have poured in a 60-point night on Wednesday, blaming a slow start in the first quarter where Dončić finished with 10 points.

"He could've had 60 if he wasn't asleep in the first quarter," Reaves told reporters. "He's scored 70 in a game. He's good. He's a good basketball player. He's been doing this since he was 19."

The way he's started the season, Dončić is reminding the league what things can be like when he's healthy.

He averaged 37.5 points per game last March, including 7 out of 16 games with 40 or more points. But Dončić then suffered a season-ending Grade 2 hamstring injury on April 2. He spent the entire offseason getting his leg back to where it used to be, even forgoing international FIBA play for his home country of Slovenia.

Dončić's health has lots to do with his blazing start to the season, but he's hesitant to say it's the best he's felt in his career, now in his 9th NBA season.

"I don't know, honestly," Dončić told USA TODAY Sports. "Too early to tell, you know. But I look back and I had a whole summer to recover. A lot of stuff that I couldn't do last maybe eight years. So maybe that's where the energy is coming from."

Redick focused on adding a new aspect to his 27-year-old superstar's game to relieve some of the ballhandling and fatigue that builds from that task alone. His adjustment are paying dividends early on.

"He's doing a great job. You know, playing off the ball," Redick said. "We're trying to set off ball screens for him. Other guys... I think some of that workload from bringing the ball up against pressure every single possession ... it's very intentional."

The Kings tried various defensive schemes to slow Dončić. Kings head coach Doug Christie added a 2-2-1 full court defense that falls back into a zone in the halfcourt.

"Players like Luka have such abilities to play so many different ways that you have to give looks that constantly keep them guessing," Christie said.

"This is one best players in the world and Luka is special," he added. "You're not gonna lock him down and stop him, but you have to have the ability to frustrate him, force him into shots that we consider good shots, which are above the break threes that are contested, middy's that are contested, and live with it. But what you don't want to do is put him on free throw line."

Dončić's much-improved defense also deserves some attention. He's averaging 0.7 blocks and 1.9 steals per game early in the 2026-27 season. He's particularly been better at closing out on shots, defending ballhandlers on the drive and challenging them inside the paint.

Dončić leads the league so far in defense inside the arc, holding opponents to 21.9 percent 2-point field goal shooting, which is lower than players like Miles Bridges, LeBron James, Donovan Clingan, Ronald Holland, Victor Wembanyama and Ausar Thompson.

It's looks like the 2026-27 season could be Dončić's revenge tour with how well he's played on both sides. Through the first month of the season, he's an early favorite for MVP.