Lakers Superstar Luka Dončić Achieves Rare Feat With Sizzling 21-Point First Half vs. Hornets
As of the start of the 2025-26 season, Luka Dončić has been delivering legendary performances. Out of the seven games he’s played so far this year, Dončić is arguably having the best season of his career. He proved it again on Monday when the Los Angeles Lakers took on the Charlotte Hornets.
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Luka Dončić Is Putting Up Scorching Hot First Half Performances
There’s no denying that Dončić is one of the most prolific scorers in the NBA today. While his style may not be flashy like other guards in the league, his efficiency shooting the basketball is what gets him big numbers across the board.
Heading into Monday’s game against the Hornets, Dončić was averaging a double-double for the first time in his career with 37.0 points and 10.0 rebounds. Both were his career-high averages. This is mainly due to the overwhelming number of points he scores early in each game he plays.
Going up against the Hornets, he notched 21 points in the first half alone. Many stars in the league typically score that much by the time their games conclude. This was the fifth time Dončić scored at least 20 points in the first half this season.
This Lakers sequence to end the half…
Luka Dončić triple for 21 points.
Rui Hachimura with the great defense.
Austin Reaves beats the buzzer.
Lakers lead by 3 at the break! pic.twitter.com/HzdmSN3IQo
— NBA (@NBA) November 11, 2025
What’s more impressive is that he’s been putting up 20+ points in the first half more times than he hasn’t. So far this season, Dončić has played in seven games, achieving a 71.4% success rate of scoring 20+ points in the first two quarters of each game. This is far beyond what the other players who have attained a similar feat this year.
Just under Dončić to score 20+ in the first half are Jaylen Brown, James Harden, and Tyrese Maxey. All three stars have accomplished the feat three times so far. However, all of them played in more games than Dončić. Brown played 11 games, Maxey played 10 games, while Harden played eight games.
Having all that in mind, we wouldn’t be surprised if Dončić’s name pops up in the MVP race this season. This would especially become the case if the Lakers manage to stay within the top four of the Western Conference this season.
However, we need to keep in mind that Dončić is doing all this with LeBron James on the sidelines. We’re yet to see how their dynamic would change if James comes back to the hardwood.
