Luka Doncic Joins Wilt Chamberlain As Only NBA Players With Three 40-Point Games To Begin Season

Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Doncic finished with 44 points in Friday night’s win over the Memphis Grizzlies, marking his third straight 40-point game to open the season. He became the second player in NBA history to start a season with 40+ points in each of his first three games, joining Wilt Chamberlain (twice).

Doncic began the season on a heater, scoring 43 points on Opening Night against the Golden State Warriors and following it up with 49 against the Minnesota Timberwolves. He was then hobbled by a pair of injuries, however, which forced him to miss the next three games.

He looked like he didn’t skip a beat in his return against the Grizzlies though, finishing with a game-high 44 points, 12 rebounds and six assists on 14-of-27 shooting in 39 minutes of action.

When discussed how he felt in his first game back and joining Chamberlain in the record books, Doncic was just happy to get the victory.

“I feel great. But obviously if we get a win, I feel even better,” he said. “So that’s the whole point, trying to help the team to win. Sometimes that means less scoring, sometimes other things. We just gotta see what the defense is gonna give us every game, every team is gonna play different against us. Just try to figure out how to win the game.”

When asked if averaging 40 points per game is a legit possibility, Doncic wasn’t so sure.

“That’s gonna be tough,” he admitted. “But like I said, sometimes they’re gonna double me more, sometimes I won’t be able to score that much… But that’s tough, I don’t know.”

There obviously are still a ton of games to be played, but with the way Doncic has looked so far, it is hard to completely rule out him putting up 40 points a night.

Luka Doncic reveals motivation behind offseason body transformation

Luka Doncic made it a point to get in the best shape of his career this past offseason, completely transforming his body to prepare for his first full season with the Lakers. In a recent interview with his former teammate Dirk Nowitzki, Doncic revealed the motivation behind that transformation.

“It kind of started in that Finals run. I felt like I was missing a little bit. Obviously last season was hard for me, a lot of things going on. I’m 26 years old and I got a long ways ahead of me. So it just kind of started there.”