Luka Doncic returned from injury and dazzled in the Los Angeles Lakers‘ 117-112 win over the Memphis Grizzlies at FedExForum on Friday. Doncic put up 44 points (14-27 FG), 12 rebounds, and six assists on the night, and achieved a historic feat in the process.
Doncic has now hit the 40-point mark in each of his first three games of this 2025-26 season, and according to Mike Trudell, he is just the second player in NBA history to pull that off. It should come as little surprise that Wilt Chamberlain was the first to do it.
What perhaps is surprising, though, is that Chamberlain did it twice, and he didn’t stop at three on either occasion. The Hall of Famer had five straight 40-point games to start the 1961-62 season for the Philadelphia Warriors, and he went even better the next year, with seven straight in 1962-63.
Chamberlain scored 38 points in his eighth game, and then responded with 10 straight 40-point games. If he had managed to get two more that night against the Lakers, the streak would have been 18. That would have been beyond reach, but getting to seven might be possible for Doncic. The five-time All-Star has got a lot of work to do to get there, though.
Doncic is now averaging 45.3 points per game in 2025-26, and Dave McMenamin revealed Chamberlain is the only one with a higher scoring average through the first three games of a season. He was at 52.7 points per game in 1961-62 and 50.7 in 1962-63.
Chamberlain ended up averaging 50.4 points per game in 1961-62, an NBA record that is almost certainly never going to be broken. No other player in league history has even averaged 40 points over the course of a season.
Doncic is on course at the moment, but he’s not going to be able to keep this up. You’d also expect a drop in his numbers once LeBron James is back on the court for the Lakers.
Speaking of James’ absence, the Lakers are now 4-2 in 2025-26 despite him not playing a single game. Doncic has missed three games, too, and they’re still doing just fine.
Austin Reaves deserves a lot of credit for that, and he settled back into being the second option against the Grizzlies following Doncic’s return. The 27-year-old had 21 points (5-14 FG), four rebounds, four assists, and one steal. It wasn’t the most efficient night, but it was enough to get the win.
This was also an Emirates NBA Cup game, and the Lakers are now 1-0 in the competition. They won the inaugural edition in 2023, but failed to get out of the group stage in 2024. The Lakers will be looking to make amends this time around, and they’ll be in action in the cup next on Nov. 14.
As for the Lakers’ next game, it’s against the Miami Heat at Crypto.com Arena on Sunday at 9:30 PM ET. The Heat have a defensive rating of 106.3, the third-best in the NBA, so it won’t be easy for Doncic to extend this crazy streak of his.
