Lakers’ Luka Doncic lands between Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant on historic NBA scoring list originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Luka Dončić continued his incredible late-season MVP push with a 42-point, 12-assist, 5-rebound masterpiece in the Los Angeles Lakers‘ 127-113 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night.
Advertisement
The 27-year-old phenom finished the month of March averaging 37.5 points on 49.2/39.2/79.4 shooting splits in 16 appearances, making NBA history in the process.
After his latest scoring explosion, Dončić became the third-youngest player ever to notch 15,000 career points at 27 years and 31 days old, according to ESPN Insights.
Dončić beat out former Lakers legend and Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant by 105 days and only trails 15-time All-Star Kevin Durant (26 years, 78 days) and his teammate LeBron James (25 years, 79 days).
Another impressive outing helped Dončić to maintain his league-leading scoring average of 33.8 points. Even with this latest accomplishment, the 6-time All-Star has only managed to place fourth in the NBA’s latest MVP ladder behind the San Antonio Spurs‘ Victor Wembanyama, Oklahoma City Thunder‘s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Denver Nuggets‘ Nikola Jokić.
Advertisement
Aside from his individual achievements, Dončić’s continued stellar play has led the Lakers to a late-season push as a collective, as he’s helped the group to the Western Conference’s No. 3 seed and a 50-26 record.
The 2025-26 campaign marks the third consecutive season of 30-plus point scoring numbers for the ex-Dallas Mavericks superstar, and he’s now entering further into rarefied air thanks to the pace at which he’s put the ball in the basket throughout first eight NBA seasons.
More NBA: Rockets’ Kevin Durant reacts to Houston Comets returning to Houston