Luka Doncic doesn't need defense to be the most valuable fantasy player on the floor. He's already scoring at a historic pace. On Sunday he put up 45 points, a season-high 15 rebounds, six assists, five steals and a block, with eight three-pointers, in the Lakers' 131-125 win over the Toronto Raptors. He also drew three charges. The scoring was expected. The rest of that line is why people are talking about his defense.
His scoring lead isn't close. Doncic is averaging 37.7 points per game, 8.1 more than second-place Tyrese Maxey at 29.6. He has scored at least 37 in four straight games, and Sunday was his 20th 40-point game in 98 regular-season games as a Laker. It was also the second time in a Lakers uniform that he reached 40 points, 10 rebounds and five steals in one game. No other Laker had done that since the 1982-83 season.
Doncic was measured about the defensive side afterward. He said he isn't the league's best defender but believes he has taken a real step forward in his ninth season, and that his teammates can see it. J.J. Redick called taking charges a form of leadership and said Doncic competes on both ends. Walker Kessler's verdict on the five steals and three charges was "incredible." With LeBron James gone, Doncic is now clearly the team's leader, so the effort matters for how the locker room sees him, not just for the box score.
The editor's question, though, was whether he can anchor a contender's defense, and the team numbers say no. Through the first several games the Lakers ranked second in offensive rating (119.9) and 20th in defensive rating (113.9), slightly below average. They're 5-2 and lead the Pacific because the offense is overwhelming people, not because the defense is shutting anyone down. Two nights before Toronto, the Lakers blew a 25-point lead in a 117-100 loss at Golden State. Against the Raptors, a 102-76 lead late in the third quarter shrank to 125-120 after the starters sat, and Doncic, Austin Reaves and Kessler had to come back in. Kessler, not Doncic, is the defender the Lakers rely on near the rim.
For fantasy, the useful number is steals. Doncic is averaging 1.8 per game, tied for 15th in the league. That's good but it isn't a breakout. Last season he averaged 1.6 steals with 33.5 points, 8.3 assists, 7.7 rebounds and 4.0 threes over 64 games, and won the scoring title. He also blocked just 0.5 shots per game, so the block on Sunday was an exception, not a new trend.
Last season also offers a warning about hot starts. Through his first five games of 2025-26, Doncic averaged 40.0 points and 2.0 steals, and he had a 35-point, five-steal game against San Antonio. By the end of the season those numbers had fallen to 33.5 and 1.6. Five steals in one game is a sample that small. Expect something around 1.6 to 1.8 steals over the full season. That still places him among the better guards in the category, but well short of the league leaders.
Charges are the most encouraging part, even though most standard fantasy formats don't score them. A player who keeps stepping in to take contact is choosing to work on defense, and that effort tends to produce deflections and steals. Three charges already tie him for the league lead. The risk is the usual one with a player carrying this much of the offense: defensive effort is the first thing to drop when minutes and fatigue build up during the season.
So his ceiling still rests on the offense. A player scoring nearly 38 points a game with heavy threes, rebounds and assists is a top fantasy option, and bumping his steals from 1.6 to 1.8 adds a little more on top of that. Managers should enjoy the defensive effort without paying extra for it. And if the Lakers are going to contend, the defensive improvement will have to come from the rest of the roster.