Luke Doncic continued his revenge tour with yet another lights-out performance in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 117-112 win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night, as the superstar guard joined some exclusive lists in NBA history with his third consecutive 40-point game to start the season. 

Doncic returned from a three-game absence with a 44-point outburst, driving the Lakers to a timely win in their NBA Cup opener. The 26-year-old was dealing with both a finger injury on his left hand and a left leg contusion throughout the last week, but his scoring charge on Friday showcased his ability to fit seamlessly back into the lineup without missing a beat. 

Doncic has taken at least 23 shots in each of his three appearances this season, and his 14-of-27 shooting clip (51.9 percent) on Friday was actually his least efficient performance of the season. He’s shooting 58.4 percent from the field overall, in addition to averaging 11.7 rebounds and 7.7 assists per game. 

With his 44-point clinic on Friday, Doncic joined the legendary Wilt Chamberlain by becoming just the second player in the history of the NBA to start a season with three consecutive 40-point games. Chamberlain achieved this feat twice in his career, once during the 1961-62 season and again during the 1962-63 season. 

The latter occurrence actually took place during Chamberlain’s first season with the then-San Francisco Warriors. Chamberlain didn’t win the MVP in either season he achieved the feat, and was even relegated to second-team All-NBA in 1962-63 despite leading the NBA in scoring, rebounding and field goal percentage.

That wasn’t the only exclusive list Doncic joined with his performance on Saturday, however. He also joined Chamberlain (3x) and Michael Jordan as the third player in league history to score 125 total points or more through the first three games of the season (per @StatsWilliams). Jordan achieved the feat in the 1986-87 season, the year before he won his first NBA MVP award. 

When asked by ESPN’s Dave McMenamin after the game whether he believes he could average 40 points per game throughout the entire 82-game regular season, Doncic was hesitant. 

“That's gonna be tough,” Doncic said. “Sometimes they're gonna double me more. Sometimes I won't be able to score that much. I had, I think three, four shots that were crazy shots that I felt like doing, but they were terrible shots. Like I said before, I gotta work on that, but that's tough, I don't know."