Luka Doncic checks out in 3 Quarters: 44 PTS, 9 REB, 5 AST, 3 STL, 2 BLK, 75% TS, +20
Lakers win vs Pacers
[https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/\_/gameId/401810769](https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401810769)
falls further down MVP rankings
media continues to call him a bum
How did people forget about Luka?
The dude who had 5 straight All-NBA First Teams?
Y’all musta forgot.
Cause familiarity don’t breed gratitude, just contempt
They didnt forget, just desperately trying force someone else into the top 3-5 every season. Cade nor Brown are anywhere close to him, this is how stupid the convos have gotten.
Cade Cunningham being compared to Luka is hilarious
I mean, I think MVP discussion is different than who is the better player. Cade is the clear best player on a top 3 team in the league, he can be up there too for this specific season lol.
People are downvoting you because they can’t face the truth. MVP has nothing to do with how good a player is per se. It’s just the best player on the best team award, that’s it. SGA will win it again this year or maybe Jokic.
Wemby is on a better team and has a better narrative than Jokic. It’s SGA, him and Cade as elite superstars on the only three clearly contending teams this year.
But yeah, people don’t seem to understand that an MVP ladder is specifically who will/should win this award that has historical precedence for how it’s awarded. Not who’s the best player in the league rn.
Because he’s on the lakers now lol. People don’t realize how strong the anti lakers bias is.
Its actually super clear they did not forget. They just want to hate every opportunity they get. You only do that when you know how good he is.
He’ll have no rings when he retires. You can’t be the best player on offense with no impact on defense and be successful, if this is you, you’re James Harden.
And honestly, James Harden at least gets back in transition rather than debating with the ref every time he doesn’t get a call.
Imagine saying that with a Dallas flair. Nico is that you?
Nah just a realist. Luka can’t even commit to his wife, how’s he gonna commit to defense?
I legitimately think Luka is the most overrated NBA player of all time. If Lou Dort can cook you, you’re trash.
dear god nico has completely mindfucked a guy i feel so bad for you my guy
I wanted to trade Luka, the return we got is abysmal.
Just because you might be a talented offensive scorer doesn’t make you an MVP. Come back in 10 years when Luka still can’t win a ship, and I’ll argue with you then. If you’re such a defensive liability, you’re not gonna win a ship. See - Harden.
You wanted to be in the lottery instead of competing for championships? Remember Cooper is a random stroke of luck.
I didn’t realize it until I followed him here. It’s wild
Lakers tax sadly. He never got this much hate when he was on the Mavs. It’s the nature of the toxic NBA media that we have and fans willingly to fuel that toxicity rather than demanding better standards.
What are we talking about anti-lakers bias?!?!? There’s anti-kings bias, anti-magic bias, anti-nets bias, anti-wizards bias, etc.
The Lakers are the most beloved basketball team in America and it shows by how their fans travel and the amount of constant coverage they get. Luka gets hate now for the exact same reasons he got hate in Dallas. No defense.
He’s not an MVP candidate because the award almost always goes to a player on the team that wins the most. The idea that there’s some anti-lakers conspiracy is asinine. Especially when there’s a strong belief that the league tampers to keep you guys competitive.
Dude. Coverage in today’s society is never fully positive. The Lakers being the most beloved team also inherently makes them the most hated team. Negative Press attracts the most attention. Its quite literally the exact same thing as the Celtics. Yall are a huge fanbase and because of that a TON of people hate the team.
In Dallas, nobody downplayed what Luka was good at. People in this sub weren’t listening to the media and saying yeah yk what Trae Young and Ja are as good as Luka. Now, all of a sudden Cade is better without winning a playoff series. And Jaylen Brown is better? like come on.
The idea that there’s some anti-lakers conspiracy is asinine.
There’s no conspiracy. This isn’t how media and opinion operates. the Lakers are a polarizing team, they are liked by many as the big market dynasty, and they are hated by many for being the big market darling. If you ever see one of those “least favorite team by state” or w/e polls the Lakers will be one of the most hated every time. There are few who are indifferent.
From a media perspective that means there is a larger basis of people invested and they get disproportionate coverage, including positive coverage and sycophancy(yes for the last 4 years the 7 seed Lakers get talked about like they are one of the most relevant teams) but it can also come with more scrutiny and there is absolutely both a market for and a natural reactivity to push back against that kind of positive attention. There is no conspiracy to do so, and I doubt many people are cynically just changing opinions for ratings, but similar to how Shai has gained more attention and scrutiny as the Thunder have become front runners that polarization is the nature of the attention to Luka
I bet you next week they will have Ant and Kawhi ahead of him
You kid but that’s genuinely something they could do.
Ant is better than him though
Tanking pacers, amazing game but this not gonna help his case. Gotta win against contenders
He doesn’t have a MVP case this season, but it’s insane that people think he’s not a top 5 player because we have a bad record. He got traded into a bad situation, and the LA media focus hasn’t helped.
We are a half game behind the Nuggets. Record cant be the only factor in leaving him off considering Jokic is 2nd in the MVP race
And there’s no argument for Luka being worse than jokic defensively when you factor in his defense post injury
Bad record is still crazy to say. We still have a t10 record and a few back from t5 lol
I don’t think this team contends for a ring but they aren’t as bad as this sub says they are
Then those people should be ignored because they’re clearly not rational NBA fans. Luka is clearly top 5 and there’s almost no debate around that fact.
This sub went off the rails when talking about Luka this season. It’s like all they do is watch lowlights and read narratives and start parroting them.
Not surprising after seeing how this sub has treated SGA, Jokic, and whichever star player is on the wheel of hate the last few years.
It’s like all they do is watch lowlights
For months the only Luka clip that shows up on this sub was defence lowlights
the percentage of rational fans in the sub has simply just decreased a lot in the past 7-8 years.
Wins are the most important stat in the nba tbh. For example, Giannis’ best offensive seasons were the last couple years and no one has talked about it because the bucks suck. He’s been on the level of Jokic and Shai but no one includes him in that conversation because the bucks aren’t winning.
I do agree Giannis’ dominance got a bit lost as the Bucks started falling off but his top 3-4 status hasn’t been questioned.
It will be soon if he keeps losing but having MVPs does give you alot of leeway
I hate how much winning in team sports is used as an argument for individual skill
Ah yes the number 6th seed MVP jokic with 48wins
when he was playing people still largely considered him top 4
Efficient 33/8/9 with more games played and better defense than Jokic on a team with the same number of losses as the Nuggets.
He absolutely has an MVP case.
Gotta win against contenders
Exactly. Doncic is a generational player, but putting up numbers against the lowest-ranked team in the entire league isn’t an accomplishment.
The Pacers are a 15-48 team right now. Nobody cares when you beat them
Nico is nodding his head somewhere.
Pacers?
The complaining and low effort on defense got him a lot of bad PR.
thats what happens when you’re a teammate of Lebron. never get fair share of credit
[removed]
I mean, it is pretty how funny how Luka is being blamed for all of the Lakers woes😭
Is he? LeBron absolutely gets his share of the blame whenever the Lakers lose, and Ayton and the rest of the roster.
Not everybody is cutout to be the face of the lakers
After tonight’s performance he will be moved down to 8th in MVP race behind Jaylen Brown, Ant and even Kawhi
The Thunder fan who posts the rankings will do a new post showing the top 7.
I saw him argue a couple times. 650 pound combined Brian Windhorst and Kendrick Perkins told me he’s not that good since he does that
They’re way more than 650 combined
He’s fat and moans
Literally the fucking devil
I know we’re past fat shaming in society but I legit cannot look at windhorst, esp when they show him from the side. He fucking disgusts me
I think it should make a comeback for a few individuals. Thats my hot take for the week.
He’s built like The Penguin
My artery hurts just looking at him
a couple times
Ok but let’s be serious.
Does that shit say 44 pts in 3 quarters? Wtf
44 points in 31 minutes as well!
He had 22 in the first qtr.
Man, he really is the best first quarter scorer of all time. If that boy had greater stamina, he would truly be a Magic and Harden hybrid.
Does that shit say 75%TS!?
But what about his…. defense? rIgHT???
Washed player, only 44 points. Fuck him.
In 31 minutes.
He was actually good defensively and has been good defensively. I have not heard a single thing about his defense after all the slander so that’s interesting to say the least
okay he has been amazing offensively and is being unfairly slandered in general but saying his defense is good is not accurate at all, this seems reactionary to an amazing offensive performance. Lakers are winning games due to their offense, they have the same rating as the Nuggets defensively who are missing Gordon for a lot of the season
You are right, he hasn’t been “good” in a vacuum, but I meant it more in like a “fine to decent” kind of way which is the truth. He did have worse stretches, mostly around the same time when he came back from injury which happened a couple of times unfortunately. And in general some bad plays. But since the start of 2026, he has been solid overall. It’s just the occasional lowlights, a single bad play from a game that people talk about for 2 months
Defense matters.
I love when people comment this on games his defense was clearly good
Nuclear defense.
Offense matters too, he more than compensates for his defense (which isn’t nearly as bad as people say) with the single best offensive game in the league.
Definitely a good thing you traded him for AD so you can trade AD to the Wizards
Haven’t watched a Mavs game ever since the trade, and I stayed up at obscene hours before just to see the Mavs play (watcher from Europe). Can’t even watch the Lakers, maybe once a month if I feel in the mood.
Joy for basketball is dead af.
Mosey on down 35 the water is fine
Mavs turned Luka Doncic into Marvin Bagley
I miss Nico Harrison cuz I would love to make some jokes like “the genius is at work” or something after he traded the guy he said he’d win championships with
Please, stop. For my own sanity.
If SGA/cade/brown had this stat line, we wouldn’t hear enough talking from them. “Best two way players in the league! Give him MVP!”
Legit this post would have had 3k upvotes already
Yep, the dick riding if any of those 3 did this would be wild by their fanboys. If Luka dropped a stinker it would have 3k upvotes too lol, pathetic. This will somehow drop him to 8th in the mvp voting now 😭😭
The Luka fan victim complex is undefeated
To be fair, if Brown did have this stat line, he should get the MVP
This year it is Shai’s to lose
Speaking of the Thunder, how did he do against SGA this year?
Pretty good, considering he would have spanked SGA if their rosters were swapped.
You are a dumbass. He went 7-20 the first game and didn’t even play the 4th quarter because they were getting blown out so badly.
2nd game he was out injured.
People like you go around spewing bullshit all over reddit and you don’t even know what you’re talking about.
Damn your Reddit names ironic ain’t it
Gee, I wonder why he shot so poorly. Perhaps it’s because the Lakers have the worst depth out of any of the playoff teams, and thus the Thunder can afford to place more defensive attention on him because no one cares about Gabe Vincent getting a look from three.
If you seriously believe that Luka Doncic, the guy who made the finals as soon as a good lineup of defenders was placed around him, wouldn’t absolutely FEAST in Shai’s position, you’re delusional. Shai’s entire role is being the guy that can create efficient offense on his own and pass out of double teams. Luka is not as good as Shai in terms of isolation scoring, but he more than makes up for it with his pick and roll game. Chet and Hart would feast off of him. Shai is already hidden on defense behind 4 other better defenders, and Luka would be no different.
People like you absolutely love to compare Shai to Luka in terms of their performances against each other, which completely ignores their respective supporting casts. How well a star performs is not something that exists in a vacuum. No one flames Shai for losing to Luka in the conference finals, because Luka had the better teammates at the time.
You said “pretty good” which was a lie. I don’t really know why you are typing an essay making excuses as to why he played poorly. My whole point is everyone seems to be better than Shai until it’s time to beat Shai. Thats about it
Instead we are hearing enough about Luka, so what are we complaining about
The fact this post only has a 140 upvotes probably
Its a stupid number on the internet man, take a break
Dont get overly offended man, how bout you take a break lol
The insecurity of Luka fans is hilarious. Simping for credit against the worst team in the league after he just went scoreless in the 4th against the nuggets, crashed out vs the refs again, and is now 1 tech away from a suspension is embarrassing. But yeah, let’s move him up the mvp ladder. Oh and they’re 4-6 in their last 10. The DON.
I mean its the same team that Shai had his career high against, in double OT, in 31 shots and 26 FTs in 45 mins
Ok so they both run it up on bad teams, the difference is SGA and the Thunder also do it against good teams and get wins which is the important part. Lakers shit the bed against every good team they play.
You are talking about wins? So let me help you then, this is actually a team sport contrary to popular belief, and one of the best teams in recent history in terms of roster contruction, defense, identity, with multiple all-defense players and multiple bench guys that would start on a lot of teams is of course going to win more games than a bad roster with the best defender on the roster being Marcus Smart, and the 2nd best being Jake Laravia who can’t defend to save his life. Hope that helps
Yeah, and guys actually enjoy playing with SGA. Don’t forget to include that part.
So we went from stats to wins to something intangible and something that none of us can prove or disprove. Whats next, he has better hairstyle?
Guy has the highest usage rate in the league by a lot, but it’s not his fault they’re the 6 seed and can’t win meaningful games? But he should also be MVP? Those are the big brain Reddit takes we love. The reality is until Luka brings a title to LA most of us will just see a harden type guy who cries a lot and doesn’t play a winning style of basketball. The analytics nerds can love him all they want, but at the end of the day those ‘tangible’ wins are what matters.
Lukas defence has been low key great over the last 20
Lakers don’t even have an anchor on defense
They just have an anchor, holding them down.
His name is Gabe Vincent, and he’s off the team now thankfully
Deandre Ayton exists.
Does he?
It’s still up for debate.
Jake Laravia is the new Gabe Vincent
I am not exaggerating when I say this, he has been one of the better defenders for his team. Smart is the best, then its probably a gap, then its a toss up
Luka very consistently has had one of the most absolutely mediocre defensive ratings on all of his rosters and compared to the league at large. It’s so fucking obnoxious when people go “look at him getting blown by!” as if the majority of offense-focused guards (especially the ones that are as tall as him) also don’t constantly get blown past. There are legitimately people in every hate thread comparing his defense to Trae’s, as if Trae doesn’t have historically bad defensive metrics (he literally is a 0th percentile defender - the worst in the league some seasons).
Defensive rating is kind of a bad stat to draw absolute conclusions from, but at any rate, his defense, is like, fine, kind of bad at the worst, but not unwinnable or something.
I do think he could get blown by way way less, but he’s clearly trying to avoid getting called for fouls. Kinda plays overly safe imo.
Dude never gets any credit for being a great rebounder
Minutes?
Goated player, we’ll see Luka media clips in the next 30 minutes
Great game and played defense too
2 in a row!
never trusting a first quarter masterclass again
i was so sure that we will see his first 50 piece as a laker : (
I mean 44 in 3 quarters is pretty easily leading to a 50+ point game if he needed to play the 4th
We would have if he played in the 4th
huh ? he didnt play the 4th bud
There is just no need for him to stay in the game when the Lakers are blowing the opposition out like that. I’d rather see him get 40+ points in a lot of games instead of him needing to go for 50 because the Lakers are barely winning.
tough life mate
Luka has been insanely efficient since the new year, especially from 3! For the whole year 33-8-8 on 47% and 36% from 3 and the Lakers are also out performing analyst projections despite tons of injuries. Just slightly behind the medias lover boy Nuggets
Narratives machine would have you thinking Luka was puttying up 30 in meaningless losses like end of OKC Westbrook
Top 4 at worst ITL and should be in the discussion for MVP after the massive Shai at 1 gap. Has had a more efficient year than Brown and Cade despite what the narratives are. Improved on D too. He does whine though, so he sucks
If you just listen to the media, you’d think Nuggets have 10 more wins that the Lakers.
Somehow he’s going to be dropping off the MVP list
And? LeBron bad 0 points!! Luka really needs to do a better job getting others involved.
Rich Paul gon be real quiet in his next pod lol
LeBron and Bronny combied for 0 points on 0 shots.
I hate that he’s on the Lakers. Gets scrutinized for the way he breathes air and their fans are some of the most ungrateful cunts I’ve ever seen. They love the shit the media is spewing.
From LA with love 💜💛
Well obviously not the r/nba posters
I still think he’s top 3. The Lakers aren’t a threat, but Luka Doncic is still looking like prime Harden IMO.
he never really wasn’t top 3. Until jokic starts to age or someone else creeps up and can average 35 8 and 8 the top 3 will be Jokic SGA Luka. The way media narratives and people in this sub talk you’d think luka is averaging 20 3 and 3 with -4 steals and 22% from 3
Get rid of Lebron and Ayton, get a center that is hard working and can get rebounds, and athletic wing for defence.
You have yourself a championship team.
Yea we can call him Luka Doncic instead of Luka Oncic
Didn’t get a chance to watch. Are the 5 stocks representative of how he played defensively?
This is really how every Luka hater operates to, they talk so much shit but don’t watch the games. Not saying you’re a hater btw
yup, he’s a two-way demon now
1st team all defense
If you actually watch the games the whole year, he’s been fine. Obviously not elite and there are moments that he’ll give little to no effort and those are the ones cherry picked and posted.
Yes, he played good defense. He’s mostly been good on defense this season.
Second half yea he was pretty locked in, first half I thought he could have done better.
You’re the problem here too. Man had 44/9/5 in 3 quarters and you’re quibbling.
No other top player gets “yeah he had 22 in the first but his defense sucked during that time” to pull him back.
The guy asked specifically about his defense so op answered him with his opinion lol
2 games of good defense in a row, on a b2b. You really love to see it
Lakers turn into the 96 bulls when they face a tanking team
And people will continue to criticize him. He got 3 STL and 2 BLK too, so much for the worst defender in the history of the game
The funny thing is, he’s really not that notable either way on defense as an aggregate. Just kinda meh.
People are just trying to latch on to the popular ‘hate’ for a player by treating him like he’s Trae Young.
I’ve seen enough, drop him down to #7 on the MVP ladder, now!
Okay he might not get MVP, but no shot he doesn’t get a first team All-NBA right? Right? 😭😭😭
Hes the best point guard in the league he will get it. I think he can miss only 4-6 more games though. So hopefully no injury it sucked that his 1st team streak had to end last year
holy smokes. what a transcendent talent this dude is
Shoutout to cap
Too fat to even play four quarters smdh
Fat. Bald. Bad. Fat. Bad defense. Moans. Whines. Did I say fat? Fat. Bum. Fat. Drop in MVP rankings. Fat.
Sucks that we’re likely only going to see playoff Luka for 5 games. He’s a beast
How much did he complain?
Meanwhile Shai has been doing this the entire season. But Luka does it once against the worse team in the fucking league and that’s supposed to mean something
You want some cheese with that whine?
Glazing him after beating the dead last tanking Pacers is a choice
Against the Pacers. Wow
Did it without falling down on every shot like your hero FTA
Kobe did the same thing but also wasn’t as efficient as SGA. Hope that helps!
Really tryna compare 2026 to the dead ball era right now? Crazy shit
The NBA regular season is a bad product and has been all decade bud. Nothing is must see
Sadly SGAs career high is meaningless now
Meaningless stat. Finals MVP is what matters. Thanks!
Why even watch basketball then? Just log out until June I guess
I don’t watch NBa regular season like it’s football. People that do… god bless em
Evident. Didn’t even need to type that out lol
So I should watch an 82 game regular season like it’s a 17 game NFL schedule?
Playoffs are what matter
Different levels of enjoying basketball it seems. I watch 82 and 1 non-Laker game every off night. I love the game, it’s a nice way to end the night.
Its also a weird comment from him, because while not all, some games definitelly do matter.
Yesterdays Heat vs Hornets was one of the best games of the year and the difference between winning and losing that one may pretty likely end up being the difference between finishing 5th and 9th. The teams were playing for the tie breaker and basically to avoid the playin.
bro only does this against bad teams.
sigh
…Luka has the second highest playoffs PPG in NBA history.
Only Michael Jordan scores more against good teams??
This is just not true lmao
yeah all the times in the playoffs never happened
That’s more of a Lakers problem than a Luka problem to be fair
Also this is not true at all, he’s had many heaters against good teams they just lose a good amount of them because the rest of the roster is bad.
I would argue that is just an excuse.
He is also responsible for the losses the Lakers had.
He is kinda the most coddled superstar of all time. But there is a significant reason why he hasn’t won an MVP nor a championship at 27 ( and his “eliteness” will probably end at 30-31 with how he plays currently)
Steph is the most coddled. Or Ant.
How is he coddled exactly? Cuz the media has been non-stop slamming him this year for some reason, even putting jaylen brown ahead of him, which is laughable.
I don’t understand how you expect Luka to win anything with this Lakers roster. They gave Luka doncic a team that cant guard and cant shoot and said figure it out. Those are the two things you need to have around Luka (or really any star) and the Lakers have neither. He hasn’t won a ring because in his age 26 and 27 seasons he’s had bad teams. When he was 25 and on a good team, they made the finals. That was the only point in his career where he’s had a good team around him and they made it very far.
I mean since we got Kennard it has made a big difference in our shooting whole team % been up since acquiring him
Why is he coddled?
https://www.reddit.com/r/NBATalk/comments/1r9k2o3/this_is_lukas_best_year_to_win_an_mvp/
????????
*stares blankly into an endless void as I wonder that Luka would be like if he did this against every team*
*sighs emphatically*
*unzips*