Austin Reaves' Sunday Night Performance Could Be a Beacon of Hope for Injured Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers are 2-1 to start the 2025–26 NBA season. They notched their second win on Sunday night in an epic showdown with the Sacramento Kings. The Lakers were without their two best players, Luka Doncic and LeBron James, in the win. 

That’s where Austin Reaves came in. With both LeBron and Luka out, Reaves instantly became the key scorer and playmaker for the Lakers, a role in which he thrived. 

Reaves ended the game with a career-high 51 points, 11 rebounds, and nine assists. What’s even more impressive is that he did this on incredibly efficient shooting from the field. He went 12-of-22 from the field and 6-of-10 from deep.

This performance from Reaves also landed him in the NBA record books. He is now just the fourth undrafted NBA player to score 50 or more points in a game. 

Besides Reaves' performance being important for his personal accolades and respect around the league, this win was huge for the Lakers. Yes, it is still extremely early in the NBA season, but for the Lakers to stay afloat when their stars are injured, Reaves needs to play like this. 

LeBron’s injury is going to have him miss at least the first few weeks of the season, and now a recent Luka Doncic injury update says that Luka, too, will miss a few games with a finger sprain and lower leg injury. 

This stretch at the beginning of the year is now hugely important for the Lakers. Can they survive without their top players? If Austin Reaves continues to ball out like this, they will probably be just fine.