SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 30: Luka Doncic #77 of the Los Angeles Lakers smiles during their game against the Golden State Warriors at Chase Center on October 30, 2026 in San Francisco, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

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Through 11 games, the Los Angeles Lakers’ offseason roster overhaul looks like a resounding success.

Spearheaded by returning superstar Luka Dončić, the Lakers are 9-2 so far as the team leads the league with 121.9 points per game on 50.5% shooting from the field (also No. 1). They have the best record in the Western Conference by a half-game, and have been able to avoid the rash of serious injuries that have plagued other top West squads to start the year.

While basketball is a team game, and this Lakers team has come together in impressively quick fashion considering they replaced most of their starting lineup, Dončić has been the main catalyst of the early-season surge.

Historic Start

In his nine games played so far, Dončić is averaging 40.1 points per game on 49.8% shooting. He’s both attempting and hitting more field goals per game than his peers and is averaging a career-best 5.8 three-point makes. Luka is also getting to the free throw line more than he ever has, with 11.3 attempts per game. He’s also continued his typical pace for rebounds and assists, each at over seven per game.

Dončić is scoring at a clip that no one has to start a season since Wilt Chamberlain in the 1960s. And Chamberlain had the benefit of being 7-foot-1 in a league with an average height of 6-foot-5 at the time.

Without LeBron James on the floor with him anymore, the Luka-centric offense has been brutally effective, largely because he’s been brutally effective. Dončić’s usage rate is 39.8% so far this season – four percentage points higher than the next player with at least five games played, Victor Wembanyama.

Luka is already the career usage rate leader, at 35.9%, but even this season would be high for him.

If current levels held, it would be one of the three highest-usage seasons since 1977, surpassed only by Russell Westbrook in 2016-17 and James Harden in 2018-19. Dončić has already had six seasons with a usage rate above 35%, including last year when he set a new career-high at 38.11%.

Though it’s a longshot, if Luka was able to maintain his average of 40.1 points per game for the full season, he’d be the second player to ever hit that mark. The aforementioned Chamberlain is the only other, accomplishing in both 1961-62 (50.4 points per game) and 1962-63 (44.8).

But It’s Not Just Luka

Despite the dizzyingly high usage, though, the whole team isn’t just Dončić. NBA observers have seen that before during his time with the Dallas Mavericks. And while there was success for him in Dallas (including a 2024 Finals run almost entirely on Luka’s back), it was a flawed heliocentric brand of basketball.

This Lakers team is built around Dončić, of course. But in a way that appears to complement him far more than those Mavs teams really did. And when he’s unavailable (as has been the case twice already), there are others who can pick up the pieces.

Austin Reaves has been averaging a career-high 25.3 points per game so far while hitting threes at a higher rate as well. Plus, he’s been doing it with or without Dončić playing.

His season-best 43 points were without Luka on Sunday against the Detroit Pistons. But he’s also scored 26 or more points four times while both were in the lineup.

Newly-acquired Walker Kessler has also been an upgrade at center, averaging 14.4 points and 10.9 rebounds per game. While there were concerns about the big man’s ability to live up to his new four-year, $130 million contract since being brought over from the Utah Jazz, Kessler’ has been exactly what the Lakers need from the position so far.

The same goes for the rest of the supporting cast as well. Beyond those three players, six more have averaged at least six points per game, led by Ziaire Williams at 11.1. They’re also low-turnover players who are more defensive-minded, which helps balance out Luka’s offensive focus.

Reasons To Question The Lakers

The Lakers are a very formidable team atop the West right now. But that doesn’t mean they’re infallible either.

Dončić has already missed two games as he and the team try to balance his heavy usage with keeping him healthy all season – especially after he missed 18 games last year, in part due to injury.

There’s also the question of what happens if both Luka and Reaves go cold for a stretch, since L.A. lacks major offensive options beyond them.

Bigger still, though, is the potential defensive concerns.

While the Lakers are the league’s top scoring team, they are one of the league’s worst rebounding teams and allow 114.5 points per game. They also allow 13.6 offensive rebounds per game (sixth-worst rate in the league).

That’s not as much of a concern when they’re moving the ball well, running and scoring as efficiently as they have. But the Lakers haven’t seen the West’s bigger squads like the Nuggets, Spurs and Thunder yet this year.

Kessler has been a reasonable answer so far at the five. But how durable will he prove to be when tasked with shutting down (or getting past) Wemby or Nikola Jokić?

Those concerns may need to be addressed down the road if the Lakers truly want to win the West. But for now, the Luka-led approach is working well. And the more they stack up wins this way now, the more wiggle room they buy themselves later if a move becomes a bigger need.