Luka Doncic is the best offensive player in the NBA by FiveThirtyEight’s RAPTOR

Luka Doncic is off to an incredible start to his second NBA season. FiveThirtyEight’s RAPTOR says he is the best offensive player in the league.

Luka Doncic has become a superstar before the eyes of Dallas Mavericks supporters. Why did anyone doubt him? He helped Slovenia win EuroBasket and then went on to be EuroLeague MVP as an 18-year-old. Doncic has always been a standout talent on the court.

Even his biggest supporters did not expect Luka to be this good in his second NBA season. After 17 games, he is averaging 30.1 points, 10.0 rebounds, 9.5 assists, and 1.5 steals in 34.0 minutes per game. Doncic is shooting 48.5 percent from the field and 82.3 percent on his free throws. The transformation from Rookie of the Year to a legitimate MVP candidate has been astonishing.

Luka is already playing at a superstar level. Here is a look at how he rates according to FiveThirtyEight’s RAPTOR.

What is RAPTOR?

The outstanding people at FiveThirtyEight created a metric that helps better evaluate players. For an explanation of how they do it click here.

How Luka ranks

RAPTOR can be broken down in a few different ways. The number one player by WAR is James Harden by a significant margin. Luka Doncic is third just behind LeBron James.

Looking at just Offensive RAPTOR, the Mavericks star is the top player in the NBA. He sits at plus-10.0. Harden comes in second at plus-9.4. LeBron is the only other player above 8.0.

Not Luka’s only lead

Perhaps RAPTOR is not the advanced stat you prefer. Luka Doncic leads the NBA in Basketball-Reference’s box score plus/minus, offensive box score plus/minus, and win shares per 48 minutes heading into Friday’s game against the Suns.

Luka Doncic may be the favorite to win the MVP award in late November. It has been an incredible run for the 20-year-old. Stay tuned to see what he can accomplish next.