Nick Smith Jr., a third-year guard who hasn't been in coach JJ Redick's rotation this season, got 24 minutes of playing time and scored 21 points on 8-of-14 overall shooting and 5-of-10 from 3-point range. He was a significant factor in the Lakers' 125-101 victory over the Kings that snapped a three-game losing streak.

Now, before we go any farther in sullying the King's good name, let's first make it clear that LeBron is not the Lakers' only, or even most, casual player. That distinction belongs to Luka Doncic, the president of all casuals.

Five-time All-NBA Lakers guard Luka Doncic, hot off a 34-point masterpiece in a 125-101 victory against the Sacramento Kings on Sunday, topped all overall fan votes with 1,249,518. Nine-time All-NBA Milwaukee Bucks power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo received the second-most fan votes to top the Eastern Conference candidates, with 1,192,296.

The Lakers (20-10) will play their last game of 2025as they host the Detroit Pistons (24-8) on Tuesday. This is the first meeting between the two teams this season. When: 7:30 p.m. PT, Dec. 30

For the first time this year, the Lakers outscored their opponent in every quarter with Luka Doncic (34 points) and LeBron James (24 points) leading the way despite Austin Reaves’ absence.

Coming off a huge win over the Dallas Mavericks, the Sacramento Kings went into the second night of a back-to-back with a challenging road matchup against the L

Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James maintains he'll continue to defy the aging curve amid a somewhat slow start to the 2025-26 NBA season.