Luka Doncic delivered another casual masterpiece with 53 points in a 124-118 Lakers victory over the Trail Blazers on Friday night. He outscored Portland by himself 20-15 in the third quarter. He dropped a three-quarter-court buzzer-beater to end the first half. He added five rebounds and five assists for fun. And the Lakers are now atop the Western Conference standings at 8-2.

If the season were to end today, Dončić would be the runaway MVP, maybe joining 2015-16 Stephen Curry as the second unanimous winner in NBA history. His box scores will always be somewhat skewed given his usage, but that context notwithstanding, these numbers are downright stupid. 

Let's dive a little deeper into the numbers behind Dončić's historic start. 

3

Dončić has become the third player in Lakers history to score at least 35 points in seven straight games, joining Kobe Bryant and Elgin Baylor. 

4

Dončić is just the fourth Lakers player to put up four straight 40-point games, joining Bryant, Baylor and George Mikan. You'll notice names like LeBron James, Shaquille O'Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson missing from these lists. Some franchise marks are oversold. Not when it comes to the Lakers. 

5

Dončić has made at least five 3-pointers in seven straight games. If he continues that streak for another five games, he will break James Harden's NBA record of 12 straight. 

6

Dončić is currently averaging six made 3-pointers per game. He has played in nine of the Lakers' 10 games. Meaning, if he stays on this pace of six 3s per game while playing in 90% of L.A.'s games, he would end up making 426 3s, which would break Curry's single-season record of 402. 

Staying on six, Dončić also owns the non-Wilt Chamberlain NBA record with six 40-point games in his team's first 10 games. 

7

Dončić has now logged seven straight games with at least 35 points, five assists and five rebounds, tying Oscar Robertson for the longest such streak in history. 

13.7

Dončić is currently attempting 13.7 3-pointers per game. If that volume holds up, it would break Harden's NBA record of 13.2 attempts per game in 2018-19. But Harden only made 36.8% of his 3s that year. Dončić, as you'll see shortly, is blowing that number out of the water. 

16

With two 50-point games so far and just 11% of the schedule completed, Dončić is currently on pace to cook up 16 50-burgers this season, which would shatter Bryant's non-Chamberlain record of 10 in a single season. Chamberlain, for the record, had 45 50-point games in 1961-62, which is just absurd. 

40.1

After Friday's performance, Dončić is now averaging 40.1 points per game. The only other player in history to average 40 through the first nine games of a season is Chamberlain, who is basically a category unto himself in these statistical side-by-sides. The most Michael Jordan ever averaged through the first nine games of a season was 38.6 in 1986-87. 

41.9

Dončić is shooting 41.9% from 3 to start the year. That isn't likely to continue. Like Harden, he's been a volume marksman to this point as a career 35% 3-point shooter. But right now he is absolutely dialed, particularly with his step-back, which, according to NBA.com shot tracking, he entered Friday night knocking down at a Curry-like 43% clip. 

Dončić is reading the game on autopilot at this point in his career. If you double him, he's zipping the right pass. If you single cover him, he's either powering his way into the paint or, more often, getting right into this step-back as a matter of routine. And when he's making it, there's nothing any defender in the world can do about it. 

110.2

The Lakers' 110.2 defensive rating with Dončić on the court would register as a top-10 mark. For all the talk about Dončić's poor defense, he hasn't been nearly as bad with the Lakers as he was with the Mavericks (especially in the 2024 Finals, the clips from which are going to haunt him forever), and he's been downright good so far this season. 

It's early, yes, and individual defensive stats can be deceiving, but nonetheless Dončić is tied for sixth league-wide with 15 steals (he's been a genuine ball hawk early), and he's tied for the league lead in charges with four. 

And get this: Opponents are shooting just 32.3 percent so far with Dončić as their defender, which is the best mark in the league among all players who are defending at least 12 shots per game. Better than Victor Wembanyama! 

Luka Dončić explains his 'step forward' on defense after five-steal performance vs. Raptors

Robby Kalland

Again, these can be deceiving markers. Dončić obviously isn't an elite defender, and that opponent shooting percentage is going to vary wildly on Dončić simply being the closest defender on misses rather than the one genuinely forcing someone into a bad shot. Also, he's defending perimeter shots, so on some level, shooters are just missing a lot of shots with him nearby so far. 

But the 3-pointers are the ones where he's just the guy closing out a lot (which is still important). Inside the arc, you're much more responsible for effecting misses, and have a look at this entering the Portland game. 

Bottom line, a 110.2 defensive rating with Dončić on the floor is what it is. At the very least, he hasn't been a liability, which, given his offensive production, is a major win. 

130.9

The Lakers' offensive rating with Dončić on the floor this season, which would be an NBA record. When he isn't on the floor, the offense falls to a 99.1 rating, which would rank as the worst in the league by a long shot. As Austin Reaves is finding out in the non-Luka minutes, life is mighty difficult without one of the greatest offensive players in history out there to command all the attention and still break defenses down like a cardboard box. 

203

Including Friday night, the Lakers have won Dončić's on-floor minutes this season by a total of 140 points and lost his bench minutes by 63. 

Do the math, and he has single-handedly represented a 203-point swing so far. If you are looking for one MVP number, this might be it.