Lakers' Luka Doncic Surpasses All-Time Greats After Performance vs. Pelicans

The Lakers guard continues to show how good of a player he is and why the Lakers made the right decision to trade for him.

Apr 4, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77) is defended by New Orleans Pelicans forward Jeremiah Robinson-Earl (50) in the first half at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

The Los Angeles Lakers were traded for Luka Doncic a couple of weeks before the trade deadline in a trade that shook up the NBA world. Doncic is one of the best offensive players in the league.

Doncic was one of the best offensive weapons in the entire league when he was with the Mavericks. He has been trying to play like that more consistently with the Lakers.

He has started to finally put up big numbers on a more consistent basis. He had another huge game against the New Orleans Pelicans in a game the Lakers needed to win.

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In that game against New Orleans, Doncic had 35 points, six rebounds, and six assists. It was a monster performance that gives the Lakers hope he can start playing elite basketball more consistently.

After that performance, a stat started going around that shows how dominant Doncic has been offensively in his young NBA career.

35/5/5 games in first 7 seasons:

98 — Luka Doncic
92 — Michael Jordan
86 — LeBron James pic.twitter.com/8Iy9qcCG7u

— StatMuse (@statmuse) April 5, 2025

Doncic having more 35/5/5 games than both LeBron James and Michael Jordan is extremely impressive. Those two are the two greatest basketball players of all time.

The Lakers traded for Doncic because he's great now and he should only get better as he ages. He still hasn't fully hit his prime yet, which should scare the rest of the NBA.

Doncic is a threat to take over a game every time he steps on the court. He is truly a one-man offense, which certainly helps the Lakers' chances of winning a title.

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Los Angeles currently sits third in the Western Conference standings. They are trying their best to make sure that they have home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

Beating a bad Pelicans team on Friday night was a good step into doing that. Doncic can help the Lakers beat good teams that they will face in the playoffs, too.

Since he's been traded to the Lakers, Doncic is averaging 27.2 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 7.8 assists per game. He is shooting 41.5 percent from the field and 35. 3 percent from three.

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