The Dallas Mavericks have gotten off to a decent start this NBA season as they are 4-3 out of the gate. They could very easily be 7-0 with a few breaks going their way as their regulation losses to the Phoenix Suns and New Orleans Pelicans were by two points apiece and their third loss was in overtime to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Big leads were blown against the Suns on opening night and versus the Thunder, as Dallas led by as many as 22 and 16 points, respectively. Despite the unfortunate losses, the Mavericks are still part of history at the start of the season.
What point guard Luka Doncic has accomplished thus far hasn’t been done in 60 years since Wilt Chamberlain was dominating on the court. Doncic has scored at least 30 points in all seven of the Mavericks’ games to start the season, something that has only been accomplished by Chamberlain twice and Jack Twyman once.
The longest streak is owned by Chamberlain, who scored 30+ points in an unprecedented 23 consecutive games to start the 1962-63 campaign. He holds the second-longest record as well at eight games to kick off the 1959-60 season. Twyman’s streak came during the 1959-60 campaign as well, but his streak was stopped at seven.
“That’s rare air and we get to see that on a nightly basis,” Mavs coach Jason Kidd said. “That’s pretty cool. A 23-year-old kid that is playing on this level is really, really special to see. He can do it in so many ways, when you talk about posting up or getting to the basket, shooting the 3 or shooting that little step back.
“It’s really cool to watch, and it just shows the focus that he has right now. He’s carrying the team and putting the team in position to win.”
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In addition to chasing down Chamberlain, Doncic finds himself on another rare list. He is currently leading the NBA with 36.1 points per game. There have only been two other players in the last 60 years to average more than that in the first seven games of a season; Michael Jordan with 37 per game during the 1987-88 season and James Harden with 36.6 during the 2019-20 season.
Doncic has already broken the Mavericks’ record for most consecutive 30-point games, which was held by Mark Aguirre. He already has four 30-point, 10-assist games this season, while the rest of the NBA has combined for only four such performances.
This is a stark contrast to how Doncic usually comes out of the gate as he is a notoriously slow starter. Last season he dealt with nagging injuries and a stint in the league’s health and safety protocols as well. But, this season he came into things in great shape, something that has also been a bugaboo for him.
“I just know from last year I had to start better, because the way I started last year wasn’t acceptable,” said Doncic, who is shooting 51.4% from the floor. “I tried to learn from that and just do better than last year.”
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What is truly remarkable about this start is that Doncic is leaving points on the court. He is shooting an elite 65.8 percent on 2-pointers this season but has made only 23.7 percent of his 8.4 3-point attempts per game. If he pushes that even toward his career average of 33.4 percent, his scoring average would rise by multiple points per game.
“Amazing, but I’m not surprised,” Dallas guard Spencer Dinwiddie said of Doncic’s historically significant scoring streak. “Luka’s a savant in every sense of the word as it applies to basketball. Nothing shocks me. Obviously, he’s young and the best is yet to come. I think he’s going to set a lot of records for the Mavs and be in the conversation with the greats.”
A perennial MVP candidate, this could be the year that Doncic finally breaks through. He has finished in the top-six three consecutive seasons and is making a strong case in the early going that it is his award to lose.
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Doncic will look to keep that streak going against the stingy Toronto Raptors tonight. There aren’t many teams that have players that can effectively match up against Doncic, but the Raptors have plenty of long, athletic wings they can throw at him to try and slow him down.
