Luka Dončić and Jalen Brunson named NBA Players of the Week after Dončić averages 45 and Brunson leads a 3-0 Knicks week

Luka Dončić of the Los Angeles Lakers and Jalen Brunson of the New York Knicks are the NBA’s Players of the Week for Week 3 of the 2026-27 season, the league announced on Monday, Nov. 9. Dončić won in the Western Conference and Brunson in the Eastern Conference for games played from Monday, Nov. 2, through Sunday, Nov. 8. Both led their teams through unbeaten weeks.

Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Dončić and New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson have been named the NBA Western and Eastern Conference Players of the Week, respectively, for Week 3 of the 2026-27 season (Nov. 2-8). pic.twitter.com/vdH60LaLdx
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) November 9, 2026

The league’s announcement of the Week 3 Players of the Week, posted Monday.

Dončić: three games, three wins, 45 points a night

Dončić scored at least 40 points in all three of his appearances, and the Lakers won each of them. He averaged 45.0 points, 8.3 assists, 7.0 rebounds and 1.3 steals in 36.3 minutes, shooting 52.5 percent from the field, 39.5 percent from three and 82.9 percent at the line.

He opened the week on Nov. 2 with 42 points, 13 assists and six threes in a 138-117 home win over Miami. The Lakers say that was his 19th career game with at least 40 points, 10 assists and five threes, passing James Harden for the most in NBA history. Two nights later he had 40 points, nine rebounds and seven assists in a 116-103 win at Sacramento, his 100th regular-season game as a Laker. That made him the first player to put up at least 35 points, five rebounds, five assists and five threes in six straight games.

He closed it on Friday, Nov. 6, with a season-high 53 points in a 124-118 NBA Cup win over Portland, as we covered in our recap of the 53-point night. It was his 11th career 50-point game, tying Allen Iverson for 10th all-time, and it made him the fourth Laker to score 40 or more in four straight games, after George Mikan, Elgin Baylor and Kobe Bryant.

Dončić sat out Sunday’s game in Detroit with lower back tightness, and the Lakers still finished the week 4-0 when Austin Reaves scored a season-high 43 in a 121-116 win over the Pistons. Through nine games, Dončić leads the league at 40.1 points per game. He is the first player since Wilt Chamberlain in 1962-63 to average at least 40 points through his first nine games of a season. This is his fifth Player of the Week award as a Laker and the 20th of his career.

Brunson: 27.7 points and almost no turnovers in a 3-0 week

Brunson averaged 27.7 points, 6.3 assists and 3.3 rebounds while committing just two turnovers across three games. He shot 28-of-58 from the field (48.3 percent), 12-of-28 from three (42.9 percent) and 15-of-20 at the line.

He had 19 points and six assists in a 103-90 home win over Brooklyn on Nov. 2, then 33 points on 10-of-17 shooting in only 28 minutes as the Knicks routed Chicago 135-105 on Nov. 4. On Saturday, Nov. 7, he scored 31 with nine assists and six rebounds in a 109-97 win at Cleveland, including a second-quarter stretch in which he scored 18 straight New York points.

The week completed a turnaround for the defending champions. The Knicks opened the season 0-3 and have since won five of six, moving to 5-4, a climb we traced in our step-by-step look at the Knicks’ start.

Two former Dallas teammates, and the rest of the field

Dončić and Brunson started their careers together in Dallas and were teammates for four seasons, from 2018 to 2022, before Brunson signed with New York as a free agent.

The other Western Conference nominees were Portland’s Deni Avdija, Minnesota’s LaMelo Ball, Golden State’s Stephen Curry, Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Lakers’ Austin Reaves and San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama. In the East, the nominees were Atlanta’s Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Miami’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and Klay Thompson, Philadelphia’s Jaylen Brown and New York’s Karl-Anthony Towns.

Earlier winners this season were Memphis’ Ty Jerome and Philadelphia’s Tyrese Maxey in Week 1, and San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama and Boston’s Jayson Tatum in Week 2.

What’s next

Dončić was off the Lakers’ injury report for Monday night’s game at Atlanta, a 7 p.m. ET tip that is 2 a.m. Tuesday in Cairo. The Knicks host the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday, Nov. 10, at 7:30 p.m. ET, which is 2:30 a.m. Wednesday in Cairo.