THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2026 — LOS ANGELES
No LeBron, no problem. That was the Reuters headline on the first night of the rest of the Lakers' lives, and for one evening at Crypto.com Arena it was exactly right. The Los Angeles Lakers opened their season Wednesday night by routing the Golden State Warriors 127-105, in their first game since LeBron James' departure — James, who led the Lakers to the 2020 title and became the league's all-time leading scorer in purple and gold, has signed with the Philadelphia 76ers, Reuters reported. The building belonged to the new men now: Luka Doncic, who ran the show, and Walker Kessler, who spent the night dunking on the Warriors' heads.
Doncic finished with 28 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, according to Reuters, and the game tilted every time he decided it should. Golden State actually led the story early — Stephen Curry scored 16 of the Warriors' first 21 points, and Los Angeles held only a 34-33 edge after one quarter. But when Warriors coach Steve Kerr rested the 38-year-old Curry late in the first quarter, the momentum went with him to the bench, Reuters reported, and it never really came back. The Lakers closed the second quarter on a 17-4 run and took a 66-52 lead into halftime after shooting 63.2 percent from the field in the first half — Doncic capping it by draining a bank shot from near halfcourt at the buzzer, his 23rd point in 18 first-half minutes.
Then came the quarter that ended it. Los Angeles outscored Golden State 36-16 in the third, pushed the lead to 90-61 on an Austin Reaves 3-pointer with 4:31 left in the period, and carried a 102-68 advantage into the fourth. Curry, who scored 20 of his 23 points in the first half, was held to three points in the third and sat out the entire fourth quarter. The hosts led by as many as 35 in the second half, and most of the Warriors fans in the building had left by the time the home crowd began chanting for Bronny James — the 22-year-old son of the departed King. Coach JJ Redick sent the younger James in late in the fourth, and the crowd erupted when he hit a floater in the lane to put the Lakers up 127-100. It was that kind of night: the new era scoring, the old era's son finishing, and nobody in Los Angeles missing anybody.
Walker Kessler dunked his way into Lakers history
The loudest subplot of the night belonged to the new center. Kessler, who arrived from the Utah Jazz, scored 26 points on a perfect 12-for-12 shooting night, added nine rebounds and two blocked shots, and opened the game by catching a Doncic lob for a dunk on the first possession — a scene that repeated all night, the New York Post reported. His 10 dunks were the most by a Laker since Shaquille O'Neal in 2003 and the most by any player in the league's play-by-play era, which dates to 1996-97, the Post reported, citing ESPN. Kessler also joined Wilt Chamberlain — who scored 34 points on 14-for-14 shooting on March 11, 1969 — as the only players in franchise history with a perfect shooting night on at least 12 attempts.
Early in the third quarter, Doncic threw a behind-the-back pass to Kessler for a dunk, a play Reuters compared to the Showtime great Magic Johnson's repertoire. And the big-man seal of approval arrived from O'Neal himself, who told Kessler he was "the best big man" in the NBA, according to Reuters. "I'm happy for you, I'm proud of you. Welcome to the big man alliance," O'Neal said, according to Reuters. "That means so much coming from you," Kessler replied. Reaves added 23 points on 6-for-11 shooting with six assists and four rebounds, and Jake LaRavia and Quentin Grimes scored 10 apiece for a Lakers team that opened the season with nine new players.
A rookie talked — and Doncic answered
The night's feud started in the second quarter. Doncic was guarded much of the night by rookie Yaxel Lendeborg, the No. 11 overall pick, and the two exchanged words repeatedly — Lendeborg received a technical foul late in the second quarter, and Doncic, by his own account, enjoyed it. "Everybody knows when somebody starts talking, you got a different me," Doncic said, according to Reuters.
Lendeborg did not back down afterward. He finished his NBA debut with 12 points on 5-for-11 shooting, three rebounds, two assists, a steal and no turnovers, Warriors Wire reported — and then he told reporters afterward, in remarks reported by Warriors Wire, exactly what he thought of the star he had been guarding. "I had a lot of respect for him, I didn't really watch the NBA much; I just watched highlights, seeing him kill people all the time. But then, being in there firsthand, watching all the whining and complaining, I lost all respect, man. That was awful." That is a remarkable quote from a rookie on his first night in the league, aimed at one of its five best players, and it guarantees the rematch a storyline: the Warriors host the Lakers on Friday, October 30, Warriors Wire noted.
Golden State's problems were bigger than one rookie's mouth. Brandon Williams scored 14 points, Gui Santos and Lendeborg had 12 apiece and Gary Payton II added 10, but the Warriors played shorthanded — Brandin Podziemski was out with lower back soreness and Charles Bassey with knee tendinitis, while Moses Moody and Jimmy Butler are not expected back until January as they recover from knee injuries and Kristaps Porzingis is out indefinitely with a health issue, Reuters reported. Against a Lakers team this deep and this motivated, shorthanded was never going to be enough.
One game proves nothing in an 82-game season, and the Lakers know it. But opening night is a statement of intent, and Los Angeles made its statement at maximum volume: 127 points, a perfect night from a center who now has Shaq's blessing, and a superstar who heard a rookie talking and turned it into fuel. The rest of the opening-night slate had its own fireworks — Anthony Edwards' 45-point franchise record in Miami and Tyrese Haliburton's return after 486 days — but the last word of the night belonged to the Lakers. The post-LeBron era started with a rout of the Warriors. It will not always look this easy. On Wednesday, it did.
Sources · 4 sources
-
No LeBron, no problem as Lakers blow out Warriors to open season
Reuters — 2026-10-22 -
Luka Doncic, Lakers open with dominant win vs. Stephen Curry, Warriors
Reuters — 2026-10-22 -
Luka Doncic, Walker Kessler dominate as Lakers blitz Warriors
New York Post — 2026-10-22 -
Warriors rookie Yaxel Lendeborg rips Luka Doncic after NBA debut vs. Lakers
Warriors Wire / USA Today — 2026-10-22
