The Los Angeles Lakers certainly hoped they wouldn’t need to rely on Austin Reaves so much so soon during the 2025-26 season, but the guard found himself in the leading role after the team ruled out Luka Doncic against the Sacramento Kings.
Doncic was declared out due to finger and leg injuries and is set to be re-evaluated in one week. Doncic now joins LeBron James in street clothes, leaving Reaves to lead an already-ailing Los Angeles squad.
Reaves was tasked with leading the charge against the Kings and he absolutely delivered with a fantastic offensive performance. He got any shot he wanted to go, and he lived at the free throw line as Sacramento couldn’t help but foul him.
Reaves scored a career-high 51 points in the win and James took to social media to celebrate, via his personal X account:
50 piece 🐔 nugget!!!!! That boy AR TOOOO TOUGH!!
— LeBron James (@KingJames) October 27, 2025
Damn that’s crazy we almost had back to back 50 balls. Damnit Don! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣! Sick back court! 🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾
— LeBron James (@KingJames) October 27, 2025
Doncic also chimed in with a seeming approval of Reaves’ masterpiece, via his personal Instagram account:
.@lukadoncic approves pic.twitter.com/zN6rWxbUxm
— claire de lune (@ClaireMPLS) October 27, 2025
It was another signal that Reaves has leveled up his game as he looked more than able to handle the burden of creating for teammates while getting his own. When the guard wasn’t scoring the basketball, he was moving it well and finding players for open shots that helped keep Sacramento at bay.
Reaves obviously won’t have this kind of scoring night every game that Doncic and James are out, but it speaks to his ability to step up when needed. The early part of the Lakers’ schedule is relatively soft, so these are games that the team needs to be taking advantage of.
It’s not going to be easy for Los Angeles to continue stacking wins while Doncic is out, but Reaves is at least giving the organization some optimism that he can keep them competitive. The Lakers play a young and energetic Portland Trail Blazers team on the second night of a back-to-back, so hopefully Reaves has enough left in the tank for what should be another tough challenge.
Austin Reaves believes Luka Doncic can average 40 points for Lakers
Luka Doncic has looked like a man possessed to start the regular season and his hot shooting leads Austin Reaves to believe that he could average 40 a night for the Lakers.
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