The Los Angeles Lakers are off to a 15-4 start to begin the 2025-26 NBA season, something not many expected from this team. Things will certainly balance out as the schedule gets harder and wear and tear sets in, but the Lakers are currently on pace to win 65 games this season. And much of that success can be boiled down to the star duo of Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves.
Reaves joined Doncic as the secondary star in the wake of both of LeBron James’ injury to start the season, and he had made the most of it by taking another massive leap into All-Star territory. Reaves is averaging 28.8 points, 5.8 rebounds, 6.8 assists and 1.3 steals per game on 52.0% from the field and 36.1% from three. In Sunday’s win over the New Orleans Pelicans, he and Doncic made a little history together.
Doncic scored 34 and Reaves had 33, respectively, against the Pelicans for L.A.’s seventh straight win. But it was the duo’s scoring output that put them in the record books, via the NBA:
Tonight, Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves became the 4th duo in 50 years to each record 30+ PTS in 3 straight games!
They join:
Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard (Bucks, 2023)
Monta Ellis and Corey Maggette (Warriors, 2010)
George Gervin and Mike Mitchell (Spurs, 1984) https://t.co/5PIdARasBP pic.twitter.com/Z5sMzpQpOv— NBA (@NBA) December 1, 2025
It has been that type of season for Doncic and Reaves, as they have both scored 30 essentially at will to lift the Lakers to win after win. Doncic, who has joked that he’s done complimenting Reaves, spoke about why he thinks the two-man pairing has worked so well.
“I think we’re just good basketball players. I don’t know what made us special, but I think we’re just good basketball players,” Doncic said.
It’s a simple explanation, but sometimes that’s all it is. When two very good basketball players play alongside one another, good things tend to happen. And it’s benefiting everyone else on the Lakers as well, as shot quality numbers are through the roof for L.A. with Luka and Reaves getting so much attention.
The Lakers are likely not going to play at a 65-win pace all season and Doncic and Reaves may at some point stop making history together. But there’s no denying that the highest-scoring duo in the league is going to stay that way for the foreseeable future.
Deandre Ayton praises Austin Reaves
Deandre Ayton spoke on working with Austin Reaves in the pick-and-roll and starting to get a better feel of what the guard wants from him in different situations.
“I’m in these pick-and-rolls with him, and the fire tends to go from orange to blue,” Ayton said after the game. “I was telling him, ‘I’m starting to know when you want me over there to set the screens.’ I can see the red fire, and the red fire means I’m gonna play normal. And then the blue fire. You know blue is hotter than the red so, you tell me. You see the blue fire, don’t go near him, let him do his thing and that’s what he did.”
Reaves has gotten so good at being able to get where he wants to go in the paint and Ayton understanding if he needs to go screen for him or just get out of the way is huge for their development and chemistry overall.
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