Doncic shines on LeBron’s big Lakers day

Los Angeles Lakers fans are used to living with history. As the franchise with the second-most NBA titles, it has seen the likes of Jerry West, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant… and LeBron James wear the colors.

The forward played his first game of the season early this morning in a 140–126 win over the Utah Jazz after missing the first 14 outings with a sciatic nerve issue. With his return, he set yet another milestone by pulling ahead of Vince Carter to become the first player ever to take part in 23 NBA seasons. No small feat.

From his debut with the Cleveland Cavaliers on October 29, 2003, to November 19, 2025, more than 22 years have gone by, and in that time he has broken multiple records. His 42,195 points are the all-time NBA scoring benchmark, and with 1,563 games played he is now just 49 away from overtaking Robert Parish, who retired in 1997 with the Chicago Bulls after 1,611 appearances, 1,106 of them with the Boston Celtics.

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Against Utah, he looked joyful – especially in the fourth quarter, when the Lakers finally shook off a Jazz team carried by Lauri Markkanen (31 points) and Keyonte George (34), who pushed them to the limit. Or rather, pushed them toward Luka Dončić, who was once again essential in delivering Los Angeles their 11th win of the season.

Doncic shines again for Lakers

The Slovenian star exploded for 37 points (2 of 10 from three), 10 assists, 8 rebounds and 4 steals. It was his seventh game with at least 30 points and his eighth double-double of the year. Beside him, Austin Reaves was excellent, finishing with 26.

LeBron handed out 12 assists and reached 11 points, stretching his streak of games with at least 10 to 1,293. And with his two made threes, he now has 2,561 in his career, passing Reggie Miller and his 2,560 for sixth on the all-time list. “It’s crazy! Sharing the court with him is special. He sees things others don’t. He’s here to help all of us – he’s incredible,” Dončić said when asked about the star’s 23rd season.

The trio prevented Utah from springing an upset. The Salt Lake City team went into halftime up by four (71–67), but gradually lost steam against the home side’s intensity. The Lakers struck in the third quarter with a 37–22 run that flipped the game and carried them to the final win.

Latest NBA results:

• Orlando Magic 121 – Golden State Warriors 113
• Brooklyn Nets 99 – Boston Celtics 113
• Atlanta Hawks 112 – Detroit Pistons 120
• San Antonio Spurs 111 – Memphis Grizzlies 101
• Portland Trail Blazers 110 – Phoenix Suns 127

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Los Angeles Lakers

Stats

28 Rui Hachimura
23 LeBron James
5 Deandre Ayton
77 Luka Dončić
15 Austin Reaves
11 Jaxson Hayes
9 Bronny James Jr.
14 Maxi Kleber
4 Dalton Knecht
12 Jake LaRavia
36 Marcus Smart
1 Adou Thiero
2 Jarred Vanderbilt
7 Gabe Vincent
10 Christian Koloko
30 Chris Mañon
3 Nick Smith Jr.

Stats

	Min	Pts	TR	OR	DR	Ast	Los	Rec	Blk	S1	S2	S3	RF	CF	Val
28 Rui Hachimura	25	6	4	2	2	1	0	0	0	0/0	3/6	0/2	0	1	0
23 LeBron James	29	11	3	1	2	12	1	1	0	1/4	2/4	2/3	0	0	0
5 Deandre Ayton	30	20	14	4	10	1	1	1	1	0/2	10/13	0/0	0	2	0
77 Luka Dončić	34	37	5	0	5	10	8	4	0	13/16	9/12	2/10	0	4	0
15 Austin Reaves	33	26	5	1	4	1	4	1	0	11/12	6/7	1/4	0	3	0
11 Jaxson Hayes	15	8	3	2	1	0	0	1	0	2/3	3/3	0/0	0	1	0
9 Bronny James Jr.	3	3	0	0	0	2	3	0	0	0/0	0/0	1/1	0	1	0
14 Maxi Kleber	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
4 Dalton Knecht	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
12 Jake LaRavia	25	16	4	0	4	2	0	1	0	2/3	4/5	2/5	0	1	0
36 Marcus Smart	17	5	3	1	2	1	0	0	0	0/0	1/1	1/4	0	3	0
1 Adou Thiero	3	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	1/1	0/0	0	2	0
2 Jarred Vanderbilt	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
7 Gabe Vincent	16	6	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	2/3	0	3	0
10 Christian Koloko	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
30 Chris Mañon	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
3 Nick Smith Jr.	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0

Utah Jazz

Stats

23 Lauri Markkanen
10 Svi Mykhailiuk
30 Jusuf Nurkić
19 Ace Bailey
3 Keyonte George
2 Kyle Anderson
13 Walter Clayton Jr.
8 Isaiah Collier
16 Elijah Harkless
0 Taylor Hendricks
42 Kevin Love
28 Brice Sensabaugh
5 Cody Williams
17 John Tonje
34 Oscar Tshiebwe

Stats

	Min	Pts	TR	OR	DR	Ast	Los	Rec	Blk	S1	S2	S3	RF	CF	Val
23 Lauri Markkanen	32	31	5	2	3	2	1	2	0	4/4	9/12	3/9	0	4	0
10 Svi Mykhailiuk	25	13	3	0	3	1	1	0	0	0/0	2/2	3/5	0	2	0
30 Jusuf Nurkić	28	10	10	2	8	6	6	2	0	2/2	4/4	0/1	0	4	0
19 Ace Bailey	23	13	1	1	0	1	1	1	0	0/0	5/6	1/6	0	3	0
3 Keyonte George	35	34	4	0	4	8	4	2	0	3/3	8/10	5/13	0	4	0
2 Kyle Anderson	20	5	3	1	2	5	0	2	0	1/2	2/5	0/0	0	2	0
13 Walter Clayton Jr.	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
8 Isaiah Collier	20	9	2	0	2	6	4	0	0	3/3	3/6	0/0	0	3	0
16 Elijah Harkless	2	4	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	4/4	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
0 Taylor Hendricks	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
42 Kevin Love	13	0	4	1	3	0	0	0	1	0/0	0/0	0/2	0	2	0
28 Brice Sensabaugh	17	3	1	1	0	3	1	2	0	0/0	0/0	1/6	0	5	0
5 Cody Williams	20	4	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0/0	2/2	0/3	0	1	0
17 John Tonje	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
34 Oscar Tshiebwe	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0