Luka Doncic Scores 21 as Lakers Beat Kings Without Reaves and Kessler

The Lakers' new full-court press forced 15 steals in a 127-103 win at Sacramento, after the team averaged 8.5 a game last season.

The Lakers beat the Sacramento Kings 127-103 on Monday night in their preseason opener, and Luka Doncic needed only one half to score 21 points, the Los Angeles Times reported. They don't get a night off: the team's preseason schedule has them at Chase Center in San Francisco to face the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday.

What changed was the defense. The Lakers picked up the Kings the length of the floor from the opening tip, had four steals by the end of the first quarter and 15 by the final buzzer at Golden 1 Center. Last season they averaged 8.5 steals a game.

It showed on Sacramento's first trip down the court, which ended in a shot-clock violation. Doncic turned toward the Lakers bench grinning with both fists in the air, a celebration the Times read as partly a joke, since nothing in October counts.

The man setting the tone was Ziaire Williams, a 6-foot-9 forward the Lakers signed for the minimum. He spent the night as the team's main defender on the ball and still made all three of his three-point tries for 13 points. At halftime the coaches ran a clip of him hounding the ball handler full court, then showed how Doncic's energy rose after it. Matisse Thybulle, another offseason signing brought in for his defense, added two steals and two threes.

Coach JJ Redick, starting his third season, said it's the first time since he took over that he's had more than one player who can take on that job. The team's name for it is the "line of confrontation," and Williams and Thybulle shared it with Adou Thiero, a forward in his second year, and guard Quentin Grimes. Across the floor, Darius Acuff, the Kings' rookie point guard and the No. 7 pick in April's draft, scored 19 but turned it over five times.

Doncic hadn't played competitive basketball in six months, a layoff the Times put among the longest of his career. A knee drove into his thigh in the second quarter and he played through it, then watched the second half from the bench with the Lakers ahead by 26. His shot was the rusty part: 3 of 9 from deep in the first half, while his teammates hit 9 of their first 13. He gave the credit to the two new wings. "That beginning of the game, the start, that's contagious for everybody," Doncic said, according to the Times.

The Lakers did it without Austin Reaves and Walker Kessler, two of the team's three top players. Kessler, the center, wore a splint on his left pinky after jamming it on the backboard in practice last week. Reaves tweaked his ankle in practice but still went through his warmups before the game. Guard Collin Sexton and two-way forward Arthur Kaluma sat with lower-body injuries, and Redick called all four day-to-day before tipoff, Heavy reported, citing the California Post.

Tuesday's game in San Francisco is the first chance for any of them to return. After that, the Lakers come home to Crypto.com Arena to see the Kings again on Oct. 8, and the regular season opens Oct. 21 against the Warriors.

Williams has the job description down. "You don't wanna be the only guy out there that's not being physical, not picking up full, not being a pest," he told the Times.

Source: Los Angeles Times, retrieved October 6, 2026. Other sources: sports.yahoo.com, sports.yahoo.com (2).