The Lakers ‘live on a spaceship,’ and Luka Dončić looks like the best damn pilot in the galaxy

Perhaps, while watching him flame-broil the Toronto Raptors on Sunday night to the tune of 45 points on 12-for-23 shooting with eight 3-pointers, you found yourself thinking, “Man, Luka Dončić is on an all-time heater to start the season.” Well, if it seems that way, it’s because he very, very much is:

“You need three guys to guard him,” Lakers big man Sandro Mamukelashvili said, according to ESPN. “I have a feeling that every time Luka plays, it’s like 35-plus [points].”

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Pretty close, Mamu. It’s actually four times in six games this season. (The last four, if you’re keeping score.)

Much of the post-game commentary about Dončić’s performance in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 131-125 win over the Raptors focused on his defensive work: on the 15 defensive rebounds he pulled down, on the five steals he snagged and six deflections he piled up, on the charges he took to draw offensive fouls and get the Lakers another possession. That certainly matters; Dončić is no stranger to catching hell for lacking defensive effort on the sport’s grandest stage, and these Lakers will need him to put his best foot forward on that end if they hope to get back to that stage themselves.

“We’ve been relying on our offense a lot,” Lakers center Walker Kessler told reporters after a loss to the Portland Trail Blazers last week. “And we have a very, very good offense and a lot of great scorers. But that’s not gonna be the only thing that gets us to win a championship here.”

It won’t. It’ll be the main thing, though. Because what the Lakers did, after ending the somewhat awkward stuck-between-stations stint that stretched from Dončić’s arrival at the 2025 trade deadline and the team bidding farewell to LeBron James this summer, was build A Luka Dončić Team. And if there’s one thing A Luka Dončić Team is going to do, it’s score a truckload of points — with the lion’s share of them coming off the fingertips of No. 77.

Sunday’s monstrous performance against the Raptors made Dončić just the second player since the NBA began tracking steals in 1973 to score 45 points, collect 15 rebounds, dish five assists and grab five…

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Author : Dan Devine

Publish date : 2026-11-02 18:37:00

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