Luka Doncic Hits 40 for Third Straight Game as Lakers Beat Kings

Doncic added nine rebounds and seven assists in the 116-103 win in Sacramento, and the Lakers held the Kings to 38.2% shooting.

Luka Doncic scored 40 again, the Los Angeles Times reported, as the Lakers beat the Sacramento Kings 116-103 on Wednesday night, a final according to TheSportsDB. The win, at Golden 1 Center, moved the Lakers to 7-2, Lakers Nation reported.

It was Doncic's third straight game of 40 or more, the Times reported, and this one didn't start like the others. He missed his first four shots, Silver Screen and Roll noted, and Sacramento went up eight in the first quarter.

He had 10 points in that quarter, five below his usual first-quarter average, according to the Times. Then he scored 13 of the Lakers' last 15 points of the half, and they went to the locker room up 61-54. He finished with nine rebounds and seven assists.

Still, the number that explains this game isn't one of Doncic's. The Lakers came in leading the NBA in field-goal percentage at 52%, the Times reported. The Kings came in letting opponents shoot 50.5%, the worst mark in the league. The best shooting team met the defense opponents shoot best against, and the Lakers scored 116, below their 122.5-point average.

So the win came from the other end. Sacramento shot 38.2% from the field and 31.6% from three, per Silver Screen and Roll, and the Lakers had just 12 turnovers, their best of the season. That shooting line doesn't capture how choppy the night was: each team drew 12 fouls in the first half, the Times reported. It also leaves out who the Lakers were guarding, a Kings team that started the night 1-6.

Doncic was half of the turnover number by himself, with six of the 12. Walker Kessler helped paper over the mess, blocking three shots and grabbing eight rebounds while making six of his eight attempts for 15 points, the Times reported. Silver Screen and Roll added his three steals and noted that six of his points came in the fourth quarter, before he fouled out. Austin Reaves scored 21, according to the Times.

The Kings' best player was a rookie. Darius Acuff Jr., who came in eighth in the league in scoring, had 22, the Times reported. Sacramento scored six straight to get within seven with 4:07 left, per Silver Screen and Roll. Then Doncic drew a foul on a three-pointer, the Kings lost their challenge on the call, and he made all three free throws.

By Lakers Nation's count, nobody in NBA history had put together a six-game run like his current one: 35-plus points each night, with no fewer than five rebounds, five assists and five made threes. That's a record with four filters stacked on it. The plain version tells you more: Lakers Nation has him at 40-plus in five of the past six games, from a player who came in leading the league at 38.3 points a game, the Times reported.

Friday's 7 p.m. PT tip brings the Lakers home for an Emirates NBA Cup game, and after that they head out for four straight road games. Friday's opponent is the Portland Trail Blazers, the team that handed the Lakers their first loss of the season on Oct. 27.

Source: Los Angeles Times, retrieved November 5, 2026. Other sources: lakersnation.com, silverscreenandroll.com.