Luka Doncic's Near Triple-Double Lead Lakers Over Wolves, Breaks Franchise Scoring Record

Luka Doncic flirted with a triple-double and led the Los Angeles Lakers to their first win of the new NBA season against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday, 128-110.

The Slovenian guard scored his highest point output as a Laker with 49 points, adding 11 rebounds and eight assists to help their team bounce back from their opening night loss against the Golden State Warriors.

Smashing Records

Doncic is sizzling to start the season, scoring 40+ points in his first two games.

With his 43 and 49-point outings, he became the fourth player in NBA history to begin a season with back-to-back 40-point games, joining Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, and Anthony Davis.

Both Chamberlain and Davis played for the Lakers themselves, with the latter being a part of the shocking blockbuster trade that happened last season that saw Doncic dawning the purple and gold.

Doncic also broke the franchise's 56-year-old record for most points scored in the first two games of the season with 92, overtaking Jerry West's 81 from 1969.

To top it off, he also matched the most points scored by a Laker in the first quarter in the past 30 years with 23, tying the late Kobe Bryant and Kyle Kuzma.

The former third overall pick from 2018 also almost recorded his eight career 50-point game if it wasn't for two missed shot attempts and a late free throw blunder.

At only 26 years of age, Doncic looks poised to post more eye-popping numbers in his first full season with the Lakers.

Playing Hurt

To make his record-breaking feat to start the season more impressive, Doncic is not even 100% healthy.

He mildly hurt his groin in the Lakers' opener against the Warriors and his left hand in the opening moments of the Timberwolves game.

Obviously, the pain did not matter as he was still able to carry the team in front of their home crowd with some Luka Magic.

On the other hand, his co-star Lebron James will be out until November with sciatica. Fortunately, Doncic got enough support from Austin Reaves, tallying a double-double of 25 points and 11 assists.

However, James' absence early in the season could prove beneficial to the Lakers, at least, WNBA legend and Prime Video NBA analyst Candace Parker certainly thinks so.

'Potentially, this could, in the long run, end up being great for the Lakers because you think about the roles these guys gonna have to settle into with LeBron out, there's a huge hole in terms of ball handling responsibilities, playmaking, and all of those things,' Parker said during the game's broadcast.

'When LeBron's back, it's going to be easier.'

Winning the Matchup

Doncic also won the key matchup of the game against the Wolves' main man Anthony Edwards.

'Ant Man' paced the Wolves with 31 points in the first-round series rematch from last season's playoffs, which the Wolves won.

Unfortunately, their defense could not slow down the Lakers in the third period, getting outscored 40-31.

The Lakers lead by as much as 25 at one point, and the Wolves were unable to keep up.

Doncic and his team will go on the road to visit the Sacramento Kings on Sunday, while the Wolves go home to host the Indiana Pacers on the same night.