DALLAS — It’s been sixty years since the NBA saw an early-season scoring streak like Luka Doncic’s blistering start to the season.
Doncic has at least 30 points in each of the Dallas Mavericks’ first seven games, the longest 30-point streak at the start of a season since Wilt Chamberlain in 1962-63. It’s a feat that has only been accomplished three times before, twice by Chamberlain and once by Jack Twyman.
Doncic is at the top of the league on average with 36.1 points per game. According to research from ESPN Stats & Information, this is the third-highest pointing average in seven games over the past 60 seasons behind Michael Jordan (37.0 in 1986-87) and James Harden (36.6 in 2019-20).
| 1962-63 | Wilt Chamberlain | 23 |
| 1959-60 | Wilt Chamberlain | 8th |
| 2022-23 | Luke Doncic | 7 |
| 1959-60 | Jack Twyman | 7 |
“It’s rare air and we get to see that every night,” Mavs coach Jason Kidd said after Doncic scored 33 points in a 103-100 win over the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night. “That’s pretty cool. A 23-year-old boy playing at this level is really, really special to see. He can do it in so many ways, if you’re talking about posting up or getting in the basket and shooting the 3 or shooting that small step back.
“It’s really cool to watch and it just shows the focus he has right now. He carries the team and puts the team in a position to win.”
Doncic also had 11 assists in what is already his fourth 30-point 10-assist performance this season. The rest of the NBA has teamed up for four such games this season. Doncic broke Mark Aguirre’s franchise record for longest streak of 30-point games.
As Doncic noted, this is in stark contrast to his slow start last season when he admittedly came to training camp out of shape.
“All I know is that I had to start better from last year because the way I started last year wasn’t acceptable,” said Doncic, who shoots 51.4% from the ground. “I tried to learn from it and just do better than last year.”
Doncic, who has been a first-team All-NBA selection for the past three seasons, often found himself on short lists of players who have achieved certain statistical milestones. With a grin, he mentioned that Chamberlain seemed to be “always there”.
“Amazing but I’m not surprised,” Dallas guard Spencer Dinwiddie said of Doncic’s historic scoring streak. “Luka is a scholar in the truest sense of the word when it comes 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 talks with the big ones.”