Luka Doncic’s 52-point performance was not enough to bring the NBA’s first Western Conference Player of the Week award of the season to the Los Angeles Lakers.
The league announced Monday that Memphis Grizzlies guard Ty Jerome won the honor for games played Oct. 20-25. Doncic and Austin Reaves were both among the Western Conference nominees.
Other nominees:
West: Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves (LAL), Anthony Edwards (MIN), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (OKC) and Amen Thompson (HOU)
East: Cade Cunningham (DET), Dyson Daniels and Jalen Johnson (ATL), and Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam (IND) https://t.co/qO8o1xU2xh
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) October 26, 2026
Jerome’s selection followed an unbeaten opening week for Memphis. The Lakers also went 3-0, with Doncic closing their week by scoring 52 points in Sunday’s 132-123 win over the Utah Jazz.
The scoring comparison was remarkably close: Jerome finished his three games with 104 points, just one more than Doncic’s 103.
Luka Doncic and Ty Jerome finished opening week one point apart
Doncic opened with 28 points against the Golden State Warriors before scoring 23 against the Los Angeles Clippers and 52 at Utah. That puts his opening week average at 34.3 points per game.
Jerome’s scoring followed a different pattern. He began with 45 points, then added 28 and 31 in his next two games. He reached at least 28 in every outing, while Doncic produced the larger individual scoring performance.
Jerome’s 34.7 points per game was the league’s highest average, and this was his first career Player of the Week award.
| Opening-week scoring | Luka Doncic | Ty Jerome |
|---|---|---|
| Game 1 | 28 | 45 |
| Game 2 | 23 | 28 |
| Game 3 | 52 | 31 |
| Total points | 103 | 104 |
| Points per game | 34.3 | 34.7 |
| Team record | 3-0 | 3-0 |
The figures give Jerome a strong case without diminishing Doncic’s finish to the week. Both helped their teams win all three games, and neither had a meaningful advantage over the other in total scoring.
The announcement did not provide a detailed explanation for choosing Jerome over the other nominees. The one-point difference is a comparison of their production, not an explanation from the NBA of how it reached its decision.
Jerome’s start had already drawn praise from Stephen Curry. In a clip the NBA posted Saturday, before the award announcement, Curry discussed the freedom Jerome had to attack.
“He’s got a full green light over there to kind of do whatever he wants, and kind of run their system and initiate a lot of their scoring,” said Curry.
Austin Reaves also earned a nomination
Reaves gave the Lakers a second candidate after an opening week in which he averaged 26.7 points and 6.3 assists per game.
His production helped Los Angeles win even before Doncic’s scoring eruption. Against the Clippers on Friday, Reaves finished with 28 points and nine assists while shooting 10-for-13 from the field.
He followed that with 29 points, four assists and two blocks at Utah. Doncic contributed eight rebounds and 10 assists alongside his 52 points, giving the starting guards a combined 81 points in the victory.
Doncic also earned defensive praise from JJ Redick after the comeback. That performance supplied a strong closing argument for his weekly candidacy, although Jerome’s three-game run ultimately received the award.
Anthony Edwards, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Amen Thompson joined Doncic and Reaves on the West’s nominee list. The NBA did not rank those nominees, so the announcement does not establish whether either Lakers guard finished second.
Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey received the Eastern Conference honor. For the Lakers, the opening week ended with two nominees and three victories, but the Western Conference award went to Memphis.
