Los Angeles Lakers superstar Luka Doncic continued his torrid scoring run with a 41-point performance against the Brooklyn Nets on Friday night. He has now scored 40+ points in back-to-back games and a total of six in his last 12 games played. During that stretch, Doncic is averaging 39.7 points, 8.1 rebounds, 6.9 assists, and 2.5 steals per game, shooting 49/39/80, and the Lakers lost only one of those outings.
However, while the Lakers are on a roll with Doncic’s red-hot scoring, Fox Sports’ Colin Cowherd thinks this run will only last until the end of the regular season. Luka has a high usage rate, and it’s going to backfire on him and the Lakers in the postseason.
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“Luka’s the number one usage rate player in the league. That means he’s got the ball a lot. We’ve seen guys like that wear down in the playoffs. Remember this: The last guy who led the NBA in usage rate and win a championship was Michael Jordan, 28 years ago. It’s really hard to do…That’s not Luka. Luka’s not in Michael Jordan shape,” said Cowherd.
Luka has big scoring nights when he doesn’t have to defend
Doncic currently leads the NBA in usage rate at 38.1. If he finishes with that number, it’s not only the highest in the league this season, it’s also the highest in Luka’s NBA career.
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Playing with such a high usage rate is physically tough. But for Luka, as long as he doesn’t have to do much on the other side of the ball, that isn’t an issue. According to Cowherd, that’s why during this 12-game run by the Lakers, his best scoring games came against teams without scoring guards he had to defend.
Looking at the games, Colin has a point: five of Doncic’s six 40+ games during that span came against the Indiana Pacers twice, the Miami Heat, the Houston Rockets, and the Brooklyn Nets. The only other 40-point game came against the Bulls, whose PG is Josh Giddey, who averages 17 points per game, and he put up 27 against Luka and the Lakers.
Luka is going to have to play defense in the playoffs
On the contrary, Doncic scored “only” 35 versus Jalen Brunson and the Knicks, 31 against Anthony Edwards and the Timberwolves, and 30 against Jamal Murray and the Denver Nuggets. Those are still very impressive scoring numbers, but those are his lowest scoring games during this 11-1 stretch by the Lakers. The problem then, according to Cowherd, is that he’s going to have to face “Ant” and Murray plus Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Stephon Castle in the postseason.
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“The four teams that give the Lakers trouble in the West all have a guard or wing player that Luka is gonna have to defend at some point. And those teams are going to make sure that Luka and his No.1 usage rate is going to guard those players. Between usage rate and having to play on the defensive end, you’re not the same offensive player… Mark my words: When we get to mid-May, that’s when the Luka questions are going to happen,” he added.
You have to agree with Colin on this one. It’s going to be tough to keep up with a very high usage rate while playing top-notch defense. In the last 10 years, the NBA’s usage leader made it out of the second round only three times. However, two were done by Luka, including in 2024 when he led the Dallas Mavericks to the NBA Finals.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Mar 29, 2026, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.