{"id":941833,"date":"2026-10-22T08:10:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T08:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/941833\/"},"modified":"2026-10-22T08:10:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T08:10:09","slug":"lakers-new-luka-doncic-era-opens-with-rout-of-warriors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/941833\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers’ new Luka Doncic era opens with rout of Warriors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As soon as Luka Doncic<\/a> took the microphone to share some words with the Lakers<\/a>\u2019 faithful before their first game of the regular season Wednesday night, it was official that this was his team.<\/p>\n

\u201cUm, Laker nation. Thank you for supporting us,\u201d Doncic said. \u201cIt\u2019s the start of something new. It\u2019s going to be a special season. So, thank you for your support.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then the game started and Doncic went right to work, throwing a lob pass to Walker Kessler<\/a> for a dunk against Golden State at Crypto.com Arena.<\/p>\n

Indeed it was the start of the Luka Doncic Show that included him finding an antagonist to direct his ire during the Lakers\u2019 127-105 win over the Warriors.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, obviously it\u2019s the Lakers. It\u2019s one of the biggest organizations in the world, if not the biggest,\u201d Doncic said. \u201cSome it\u2019s a very\u2026a lot of honor just to be the face of the franchise, and I hope I can stay here long. And it doesn\u2019t feel\u2026It\u2019s very much an honor and just enjoy this moment.<\/p>\n

Doncic and Warriors rookie Yaxel Lendeborg got into a little beef in the second quarter, leading to the Lakers All-Star guard to put in a little more effort while producing 28 points, eight rebounds and seven assists with six turnovers.<\/p>\n

Doncic got help from Kessler, who was a force with 26 points on 12-for-12 shooting, nine rebounds and two blocked shot in his debut. Ten of his field goals were on dunks, and in the middle of it all, Kessler had several Lakers and NBA milestones.<\/p>\n

He became the first player in Lakers history and the first NBA player in the shot clock era (since 1954-55) to score 20 or more points on at least 10-for-10 shooting from the field in his team debut.<\/p>\n

His 26 points without a missed field goal marked an NBA record for a team debut in the shot clock era, surpassing Bob Greacen\u2019s 18 points in 1969.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m extremely thankful,\u201d Kessler said. \u201cPlaying with the guys that we have on our team, I wish I could say it was really difficult, but they\u2019re just so good. Their court vision\u2019s insane. So they know my advantage is my height. So yeah, they found me in the right spots.\u201d<\/p>\n

Austin Reaves had 23 points and six assists.<\/p>\n

LeBron James ran the Lakers the previous eight seasons, so much centered around him, his voice and play always a strong presence. Last season was the first time with the Lakers that James didn\u2019t play in the season opener, missing the game because of sciatica.<\/p>\n

But James has taken his talents to Philadelphia to play for the 76ers, leaving Doncic as the man in charge.<\/p>\n

When Doncic was fouled by Lendeborg with two minutes and 28 seconds left in the second quarter, the two exchanged words. As they headed toward their benches during the timeout, Doncic glared at Lendeborg.<\/p>\n

The two kept up the trash talking in the second quarter, leading to a technical foul on Lendeborg. Doncic smiled at the first-year rookie and then made the technical-foul free throw. <\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I mean, he was talking crazy,\u201d Doncic said. \u201cBut, you know, I wasn\u2019t trying to talk back. This season, I\u2019m trying to not get techs. So, it was the first time that was not a double tech, cause I didn\u2019t say nothing. So I\u2019m working on it. But as you can see, I think it worked great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then Doncic made a half-court three-pointer with Lendeborg nearby, pointing at him after the ball settled through the net to give the Lakers a 66-52 lead at the half. <\/p>\n

\u201cI had a lot of respect for him just watching him,\u201d Lendeborg told reporters. \u201cI didn\u2019t really watch the NBA that much. I just watched highlights, seeing him kill people all the time. But then being in there first hand, just watching all the whining and complaining, I lost all respect. That was awful. Like me getting frustrated, it\u2019s not about the fouls being called. It\u2019s about him complaining the entire game and then you get the foul called. Congratulations. Then you talk to me like you did something great. Cmon, dawg. That\u2019s just weak.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doncic began the day by paying for parking for fans in a lot near the arena. He declined to say how much he paid.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know the exact amount,\u201d Doncic said. \u201cBut like I said before, it\u2019s very important for me to connect with fans. I know how much, how hard they work just to get to the games. So. just trying to help them out a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

The only bad news for the Lakers was Jake LaRavia injuring his ankle late in the fourth quarter. He was escorted to the locker room.<\/p>\n

Etc.<\/p>\n

Lakers point guard Collin Sexton missed the game because of a right soleus strain. Sexton, who signed a two-year, $19.2-million deal with the Lakers as a free agent over the summer, missed all five preseason games. Sexton had participated in practices recently.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo setback, no setback,\u201d Redick said. \u201cCollaborative decision with performance, everyone involved. I always say this, with soft tissue injuries, the athlete has to have confidence and full confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lakers second-year forward Adou Thiero missed the game season- opener because of a left knee effusion and swelling, Redick said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, he\u2019s got some swelling. Definitely something we\u2019ll have to continue to monitor,\u201d Redck said. \u201cHe\u2019ll be shut down for a couple days and then he\u2019ll ramp back up. So he\u2019s day to day, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rookie Cameron Carr didn\u2019t play because of a right oblique strain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As soon as Luka Doncic took the microphone to share some words with the Lakers\u2019 faithful before their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":941834,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[322578,45842,49,48,322575,322574,19846,322573,289928,459,39770,6688,95939,322577,322576,82,10759,1722,137729],"class_list":["post-941833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-60-million-contract","tag-austin-reaves","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-collaborative-decision","tag-competitive-preseason","tag-confidence","tag-lakers-starter","tag-matisse-thybulle","tag-nba","tag-preseason-game","tag-quentin-grimes","tag-redick","tag-right-soleus-strain","tag-sexton","tag-sports","tag-spot","tag-training-camp","tag-ziaire-williams"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=941833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941833\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/941834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=941833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=941833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=941833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}