There is not a day that goes by without the Los Angeles Lakers and their fans being thankful for the night that Nico Harrison and the Dallas Mavericks decided to giftwrap Luka Doncic and send him to Hollywood. Somehow, there is always a way to make the trade look even better as time passes.
Bleacher Report deserves a tip of the cap for finding the latest means of doing it. The major sports outlet pointed out that Doncic is currently outproducing both Anthony Davis and Cooper Flagg in the scoring department to start the new NBA season.
Luka is enjoying a historic start to 2025-26. Through five games, the Lakers superstar is averaging 40.0 points per game. Davis' start with the Mavericks this season has him producing 20.8 points per game. For Flagg, it's 14.4 points per game. Add those numbers up and you get 35.2, which is less than what Doncic has by his lonesome.
Luka Doncic's historic pace is a painful reminder of the generational talent Mavericks gave away
Who has the most points through the five five games of a season in NBA history? That would be Wilt Chamberlain. However, if one were to look at only the players following the NBA-ABA merger in 1976, that record would actually belong to Doncic.
Legendary company. pic.twitter.com/CKTneautKB
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) November 6, 2025
Doncic's 200 points are the most by a player in their first five games since that milestone moment. Chamberlain's 264 in 1962 and 256 in 1961 are the only figures that top what Luka has done, if factoring in the entirety of NBA history.
Will Doncic continue averaging this ridiculous of a number for the duration of the entire 2025-26 season? Probably not, even if Austin Reaves thought it might be possible.
The Lakers superstar will inevitably slow down and look a touch more human from a statistical standpoint. However, even then, Doncic will continue to comfortably be in discussions about who the best player in the world is.
Davis, the centerpiece of the Doncic trade for the Mavericks, has been the victim of injury troubles already. Everyone in Los Angeles will wish him a speedy recovery, but that moment did serve a painful reminder that the former Lakers star is creeping up on 33 years old.
Mavericks' Anthony Davis has sustained a low-grade calf strain and will miss the next two games and be re-evaluated.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) October 31, 2025
Flagg, the player who the Mavericks fluked into, has gotten off to a slow start. The highly-touted first overall pick from the 2025 NBA Draft is underperforming thus far. Flagg has averaged 14.4 points, 6.6 rebounds, 2.8 assists, shooting 39.4 percent from the field and 29.0 percent from beyond the arc.
There is more than enough time for him to turn things around. Even so, with Flagg already getting passed up in Rookie of the Year talks, that was another reminder for Dallas that nothing in the NBA is ever guaranteed.
What was guaranteed, beyond any doubt, was the fact that having Doncic would give their team a competitive chance under most circumstances. Sitting at 2-6, tied for the worst record in the Western Conference, the Mavericks might miss him about now. Thankfully for the Lakers, this is a 'no takesies-backsies' type of situation.