Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Dončić got the first 50-point game of the season in the team's 132-123 victory over the Utah Jazz. Dončić finished with 52 points, 10 assists, 8 rebounds, and 2 steals, shooting 8-of-18 from the three-point line and 17-of-30 overall in 38 minutes. But after the game, Dončić said he's still getting into his rhythm.
“I’m still getting there honestly,” Dončić said to The Athletic's Dan Woike. “This is the first time I didn’t play basketball in six or seven months, which is a long time. So, I’m not used to it. So, I think I’m still getting there. But you know, today was a little bit better.”
Dončić's long basketball layoff comes after he suffered a grade 2 hamstring strain in April in the team's matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder. He didn't play another game in the 2025-2026 season, including the team's playoff series against the Rockets and the Thunder. He also didn't play in the summer FIBA World Cup for Slovenia, choosing to sit out to focus on his custody battle with ex-fiancée Annamaria Goltes and to recover from his injury.
Dončić was a key factor in the team's comeback win, even though he struggled early. The Jazz jumped to a 47-29 lead in the first quarter, but the Lakers cut it to a single-digit deficit in the second and stayed competitive throughout.
Article Continues BelowJJ Redick spoke about the team's resilience,
“Because of all the new faces, you need to build reference points. And whether, really whether we had responded to the adversity of that first quarter, not being ready to play and not doing any of the stuff that we had talked about pregame, it still would be a reference point. Because we ended up coming back and winning, now it becomes a positive reference point.”