Lakers’ Luka Doncic has become ‘completely unguardable’

The Lakers are 7-2, and Luka Doncic is making a fairly convincing argument that having him on the floor solves a lot of problems.

Taking him off it? That’s another story.

Zach Lowe of The Ringer pointed to that contrast while making the case for Doncic as the early MVP favorite, with the Lakers dominating his minutes and struggling badly without him.

“I mean, Luka plus 21 with Luka on the floor, minus 17 per 100 possessions with Luka off the floor,” Lowe said, via Ricardo Sandoval of Lakers On SI.

“What else can you say about Luka? I mean, MVP favorite as of now, and just unguardable, completely unguardable.”

Doncic is averaging 38.5 points, 8.1 rebounds and 8.0 assists through eight appearances, shooting 49.5% from the field and 43.1% from three. That’s an awful lot of offense from one player, even by his standards.

The shooting makes the assignment particularly unpleasant. Give Doncic space and he can bury a three. Crowd him and he can work his way inside, draw help and find someone else.

The more interesting question for the Lakers is how much they can accomplish when he needs a breather. The gap Lowe cited is both an endorsement of Doncic and a reminder that the supporting cast has work to do.

Nine games won’t decide an MVP race, much less establish whether the Lakers have enough to win a championship. They also don’t need to apologize for winning while figuring things out.

With Doncic playing like this, they have a pretty substantial head start.