Luka Dončić Responds to Lofty Kobe Bryant Comparisons

Luka Dončić had just put together his third straight 40-point game when a question about Kobe Bryant came up.

The Los Angeles Lakers guard was told that he was the closest thing to Bryant in terms of mentality, and his answer went straight to what Bryant meant to the people who watched him.

“It’s a lot of honor,” Dončić told Spectrum SportsNet. “He was an idol for a lot of people, so it means a lot that I’m mentioned next to his name.”

The exchange followed the Lakers’ 116-103 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday. Los Angeles improved to 7-2 with its third consecutive win, a stretch in which Dončić scored at least 40 points against three different opponents in four nights.

The question put the emphasis on mentality. Dončić’s response was brief, and he used it to talk about Bryant’s influence. He described Bryant as an idol to many people, which helps explain why hearing the two names together carried weight for him.

Bryant spent all 20 of his NBA seasons with the Lakers and won five championships with the franchise.

For Lakers fans who watched him handle the ball late in games for two decades, his approach to those possessions is still part of how they talk about the team’s stars. The interview with Dončić offered a glimpse of that, even on a night when the immediate story was another road win in November.

Dončić has his own way of putting pressure on a defense. He can slow down a possession, keep a defender on his hip and give a teammate time to get open. When the defense stays home on a shooter or a cutter, he can use that same patience to get to a shot himself. That ability to choose how a possession ends has been on display throughout the Lakers’ winning streak.

The run began Sunday against Toronto, when Dončić scored 45 points in a 131-125 win. The Lakers played Miami the next night, and Dončić finished with 42 points and 13 assists in a 138-117 victory.

He followed those performances with 40 points, nine rebounds and seven assists against the Kings. He made six 3-pointers and went 12 for 13 at the free-throw line in Sacramento.

The Miami game showed how much else he can do while scoring at that rate. Dončić made six 3-pointers and still found enough openings for 13 assists.

For defenses, sending help has consequences when he can see the passing lane that opens up behind it. The Lakers have been able to take advantage of those decisions as he has piled up points.

Sacramento was the last game in a stretch that took the Lakers from a 4-2 start to seven wins in nine games. Dončić’s scoring gave the three wins a common thread. His reaction to the Bryant question was about the player whose name still comes up when people talk about what they value in a Lakers star.