Luka Dončić played only 64 games for the Lakers last season after arriving in the February 2025 trade for Anthony Davis, and still averaged 33.5 points, 7.7 rebounds and 8.3 assists a night. LeBron James is gone to Philadelphia now, and 2026-27 is Dončić's first season as the Lakers' only marquee name, with the record still sitting at 0-0 before a game has been played.
The Half Season He Ran
In 64 games last season, Dončić averaged 35.8 minutes, 33.5 points, 7.7 rebounds and 8.3 assists, shooting 47.6 percent from the field and 36.6 percent from three on 10.8 attempts a game. He made 78.0 percent of his free throws while turning the ball over 4.0 times a night, the cost of touching it on nearly every possession. Those numbers came in a partial season, the Lakers' first real look at what a full year of Dončić could produce.
The Efficiency Underneath
Strip away the box score and the shot volume looks even more extreme: a 36.8 percent usage rate, the kind reserved for a team's only true offensive engine, paired with a 61.6 percent true shooting mark that says the volume was not empty. His individual offensive rating sat at 119.4 against a 115.6 defensive rating, a net of plus-3.8, and his 38.7 percent assist rate shows a player setting up as much as he scores. Those are the numbers of a player carrying an offense, not just leading one.
What Comes Next
Dončić is signed at $49.8 million this season, $53.8 million next, and a $57.8 million player option after that, the largest contract on a roster now built to run through him alone. He is not on the injury report heading into a season that has yet to tip off, the one clean line in an otherwise blank ledger of games played. With James gone, the job is simple: turn last year's half-season burst into a full one, without another star to share the possessions.
How did Luka Dončić perform in his first season with the Lakers?
In 64 games last season he averaged 33.5 points, 7.7 rebounds and 8.3 assists, shooting 36.6 percent from three.
Is Luka Dončić healthy entering the 2026-27 season?
He is not on the injury report as the Lakers head toward training camp, though the season has not yet started.
