The Los Angeles Lakers saw Luka Doncic take the summer off from national team play, and that change, coupled with his commitment to fitness, should let the superstar lock in his jumper early. Doncic is virtually unstoppable when his 3-point shot is falling. He gets into the paint at will, so an off-shooting night is the defense's only hope. Luka is a notorious slow starter from long range, except in the 2023-24 season, when the Mavericks reached the NBA Finals.
Last season, Luka shot 31.9 percent from 3-point range over his first 21 games before shooting 39.6 percent for the remainder of the season. That is not new. After the first 14 games in the 2025 season, Doncic sat at 32.3 percent over 139 attempts. In two of his eight NBA seasons, he was under 30 percent to start the year.
Luka made a change this summer. He has a deep and longstanding commitment to the Slovenian National Team. Doncic played for the squad every year since the pandemic cancelled the games in 2020. The demanding schedule and minimal time off likely played a role in Luka’s slow shooting starts, but he took this summer off to spend time with his daughters. That could be the key to hitting the ground running and making Doncic a serious threat to win MVP.
Luka Doncic’s early 3-point shooting has been a problem
Over a 175-game sample to start his first eight seasons, Luka shot just 33.0 percent from 3-point range. If the outlier numbers from 2024, where Doncic shot 37.5 percent over 26 games, are removed, it dips to 32.1 percent. Fans can see the year-by-year breakdown below.
Year | Games | 3PM | 3PA | 3P% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
2018-19 | 32 | 68 | 192 | 35.4 |
2019-20 | 25 | 76 | 233 | 32.6 |
2020-21 | 21 | 42 | 145 | 28.9 |
2021-22 | 21 | 57 | 175 | 32.5 |
2022-23 | 15 | 34 | 118 | 28.8 |
2023-24 | 26 | 100 | 266 | 37.5 |
2024-25 | 14 | 45 | 139 | 32.3 |
2025-26 | 21 | 71 | 222 | 31.9 |
The games played vary because of missed time and Luka breaking out of the slump earlier in some years. Luka often gets white hot after this stretch and rarely cools off. Eliminating his two seasons, he shot 37.5 percent from 3-point range after his rough start. That is an otherworldly number considering the difficulty of the shots and the attention number 77 draws.
This shooting matters. Luka averages his lowest per-game scoring in October, and it slowly rises until the peak in March. April’s numbers are skewed by a much smaller sample and teams gearing up for the playoffs.
If Doncic starts the season shooting 37 percent from 3-point range, he may average 35 points per game. He led the NBA in 3-pointers made and attempted per game last season. Luka has already topped the league in scoring in two of the last three years. Things will be different this year. Being a lights-out shooter over the full season takes his game to another level.
Luka Doncic needed the time off, and the Lakers will benefit
Doncic shot 35.4 percent from 3-point range after 32 games as a rookie. He started hot and cooled as the season wore on. Real Madrid played until right before the 2018 NBA Draft as they won the EuroLeague and Spanish ACB titles. A teenage Doncic was the MVP of both competitions, but he didn’t appear in summer league or for his national team that summer. Luka geared up for the NBA and started hot.
Luka has played for five straight summers, including jumping right into Olympic Qualifiers after playing in the NBA Finals. Doncic wants to help his country win, but that is a lot of basketball with only minimal breaks.
He hasn’t played since suffering a season-ending injury on April 2. Doncic is healthy and getting in work, but there has been no game action. He spent the summer with his young daughters and maintaining his fitness. Luka hosted the team in Slovenia and is ready to lead this squad. He is finally rested and should be ready to hit the ground running.
The Los Angeles Lakers are unstoppable when Luka Doncic is nailing 3-pointers. They are rarely easy looks for number 77, but he consistently makes them. He has started slow in six of his eight NBA seasons and was below his career average as a rookie. When Luka locks in, the Lakers can defeat any team. Fans saw that during the 15-2 March last season.
The summer break should make it happen from opening night, which should terrify the rest of the NBA. Doncic is ready, and a fast start could finally help him win MVP after years of being in the running. The best is yet to come from Luka. Now just might be that time.
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