He had 6 consecutive 30pt triple doubles in march of that year, setting the record, and dropped down the MVP ladder.

Lakers buff

just convince Luka that the 4th quarter of every game is the 1st quarter of the next game, problem solved.

I really don’t think so to be honest. Luka has been going hard in 1st quarters for many years. Teams are fully aware that they just have to wait for Luka to go on the bench and they can start fighting back.  Unless it’s a team full of rookies, I don’t think any team stresses Luka’s insane early input too much.

I couldn’t believe how low so many people were on the Lakers.

Like… They have Luka, and they got a good center. In my opinion, that alone makes them contenders. Redick has been an awesome coach, Reaves is averaging 24, and the team is constructed in a more logical way. People need to wake up to this Lakers squad, teams are going to get shredded by their offense this season.

Dude has more highlight reels than a bunch of high profile players/mvp’s combined and one more all nba 1st selections than Curry and Kobe…In just 8 years.

He’s a big cry baby but he is in one of the greatest ever conversations already and that’s really, really, REALLY hard to do in this stage of his career.

He is a white European who faces racism and the pressures of ring culture. Jokic faced a similar situation before winning his title, and now some people rank Brunson and Tatum above Luka simply because those two have won championships.

Winning in the NBA is difficult, requiring both a strong roster and good fortune. OKC could have lost the finals 2 years ago, media would be pushing the same nonsense about not being able to win a title with SGA’s playstyle. For some fans, even winning isn’t enough unless you check specific arbitrary boxes. LeBron was mocked until he won with Cleveland because of his Miami superteam, KD is still ridiculed for the same reason, and Steph faced similar criticism until he won a Finals MVP.

Social media and commentators like Skip, Stephen A have damaged NBA by obsessing fans over player rankings across positions and eras.

underrated by who? he’s been considered a top 5 player since like his second season

Not a victim of Finals success, however.

He is not a top 10-15 playmaker all time wtf are we doing lmfao, saying that mean you can make an argument he’s top 10

MagicNashStocktonOscarKiddZekeRondoCP3LeBronJokicJames HardenKevin JohnsonMark JacksonTim HardawayMAYBE Tyrese Haliburton

All these guys are better playmakers no disrespect to Luka

Wilt did it over a full season.

It’s not even ten games.

If he can sustain this, it would be insane.

I don’t believe so

you can tell he played a lot very youngpattern recognition

Yeah Stan Van Gundy said Luka was the best scorer ever. Even better than MJ.

Don’t think Lakers are going to win enough games, but if they do, it’s probably his time, considering he’s been in the conversation forever - except lacked the team record to go all the way. He’s definitely got the narrative going for him.

Jokic did have 3 higher PER on the 2nd seed in the West with 0 all stars. He was more valuable

Ty Jerome

Bubble TJ Warren

MJ, Wilt, Bam*, Kobe, Harden, Luka

Fixed that for you

what do you mean by “spree scorers”? Cos if you mean scoring in bunches, you are missing one person

https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/player-with-most-20-point-quarters-history

https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/player-with-most-15-point-quarters-history

MJ is in every fuckin stat

Prime KD and 2016 Curry.

Embiid

Darius Acuff Jr.

Iverson

Allen Iverson

Durant as well. I feel like this 6 are at a different level to the rest.

Wilt Bam Kobe Luka, and this is factos

11 MVPs between those first four players. The first three played full careers. Harden has played 85% of his, and his inclusion here is debatable. Luka is seven games into his ninth season. In his first eight seasons, he won rookie of the year, and has been first team all nba six of the last seven seasons. The lone season he failed to be first team all nba, he didn’t meet the minimum games played requirement, only playing 50 of required 65. Although in that very season, despite being traded to the Lakers at the deadline, he still managed to finish fourth in BPM. The three players above him were top three in MVP.

Feel like the guy who dropped 37 in a quarter needs to be included

Iverson had lots of stretches of 35 plus and broke wilt’s record for 40 point games in a row as a rookie

Steph

Cam Thomas is the GOAT

Luka could retire right now and he would be one of the best scorers of all time

Kyrie Irving is legit just poetry in motion. Pure gracefulness on the court in a way that’s kind of impossible to quantify but basically every hooper can see and agree on.

“The bag”, it doesn’t matter if it loses you efficiency, you just need to have more weapons.

What’s considered skill anyway ? I could say Durant, Joker, SGA, Luka and Steph are equally as skilled

Kyrie has a mobility that Luka doesn’t have. Luka is very skilled but he’s too big to really rival Kyrie and Maxie. Maybe if he had been called Lukie?

There better be more space between B83m and the scrubs following him!

The difference is all in the post-season success. Harden was always a playoff shrinker, while Luka has been a riser so far. I find it hard to imagine him rising from this level of play, but if he can be a 30/8/8 on good efficiency kind of guy in the postseason, he’s still going to be one of the best if not the best…

Don’t forget, Luka has the highest ppg in the playoffs behind his airness…

Harden is the anti-Steph, and I think much of the vilification he received and his subsequent reputation stemmed from that contrast.

We love champions and vilify losers, particularly when two comparable players represent seemingly opposing philosophies of the game. Their rivalry then becomes about much more than basketball, with winning and losing treated almost as vindications of their respective approaches.

I don’t expect Luka to face quite the same level of vilification unless an equally compelling counterpart emerges.

Harden did it but not to the degree that Luka has and Luka has done it longer

Well Harden has an MVP and Luka doesn’t. I wouldn’t say Luka’s a media darling by any means compared to Harden. Harden got his flowers for his ridiculous 17-18 season.

Luka’s also been to the finals and Harden hasn’t.

Luka is a better shotmaker and has a more all around game. It’s not just step back 3s and floaters

What? Harden is widely considered one of the greatest scorers to ever live as well. He was getting his props when he was in his prime too

Luca has shown that he can maintain his production and efficiency in the playoffs, whereas Harden has typically seen a fall off on production and efficiency when teams have had time to scheme for him.

This is in part bc Luka is just a bigger body and can handle the increased physicality, and is a better passer than prime Harden.

Luka plays ethical hoops unlike Harden

Harden was never doing the same thing no post game

Someone makes this comment every Luka thread to somehow signal he doesn’t receive hate when that’s just not true. The media disrespects Luka’s performances constantly

Luka will be the better player overall but Flagg’s defense might make him easier to build around for a championship team,, we’ll see

The only player worth more then Flagg right now is wembyama. The lakers will have a good regular season then get beat in the playoffs fairly easily by either San Antonio Houston or Minnesota.

I genuinely do not understand how you can be a basketball fan and not get this.

There is no such thing as good or bad players, only good or bad contracts.

The only person with a better contract than Flagg rn is Wemby…

If you would trade Flagg for Luka you are a moron

19 year old Coop is averaging practically Lebron numbers with massive on-off and elite advanced stats. Cooper rn is undoubtedly better than 19 year old Luka.

he wasnt even 2nd place

Embiid definitely deserved an MVP, hate this reactionary revisionism.

No, Jokic deserved that one. Sometimes all time players just overlap.