Keeping up with Dončić

When Luka Dončić opened the 2025-26 season for the Lakers with 43 points, 12 rebounds, and nine assists in a loss to the Warriors, one thought lingered in fans’ minds: The engine is revving. A couple of days later, the five-time All-Star dropped 49 to bring his total to a franchise-best 92 in two outings. On surface, it’s the high-octane offense the purple and gold have long sought. Underneath, however, there are noticeable cracks.

For all the brilliance Dončić is displaying, the Lakers have shown signs they can’t keep up. Against the Warriors in the opener, they committed 20 turnovers, were outscored by 10 in the third quarter, and generally looked lost. And while their next appearance at Crypto.com Arena ended in victory, it came after they exceeded expectations (59.2% shooting overall, 41.4% from three) against the Timberwolves.

So how can the Lake Show be described this early in the season? Dončić is operating at a level that demands attention; he’s just the fourth player in National Basketball Association history — after Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain and Anthony Davis — to start a season with back-to-back 40-point games. Yet, in the face of his brilliance, the message being conveyed is that he needs to be at his peak at all times to even get a sniff of success.

Needless to say, Coach JJ Redick flagged the recurring third-quarter collapse in his post-mortem. “We continue to be a terrible third-quarter team,” he said after the opener. The Lakers hung with the Warriors in the first half, then collapsed at the start of the second. And although they were more focused when they hosted the Timberwolves, the jury’s out on whether they can be consistently competitive.

The determination of the Lakers’ true colors matters for two reasons. First, Dončić is on a mission to prove his worth as a winner in the aftermath of his divorce from the Mavericks. The early headlines reflect his star power, but also refract it. Outside of Austin Reaves and in the continued absence of LeBron James, those around him are iffy at best.

Second, the contrast between high individual output and systemic dysfunction is stark. Dončić appears primed to score 40-plus at every turn. Amid the explosion, though, the Lakers have to defend, rebound, rotate, and execute, and not merely in stretches. If they are to truly contend for the hardware, they cannot keep betting on their best player by far to carry the load by his lonesome. He may be humming, but the rest need to be in tune.

Bottom line, Dončić is with the Lakers to stay. The question is whether everybody else can make it worth his while.

Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and human resources management, corporate communications, and business development.