The Los Angeles Lakers made easy work in disposing of the Sacramento Kings on Sunday with a commanding 128-104 win. 

After losing three-straight games, the Lakers’ win over the Kings gives them consecutive victories by 20-plus points. Afterward, head coach JJ Redick talked about what was working for his team, and it started with ball movement and the gravity that Luka Doncic brings to the court. 

“I mean, we ended up with 34 assists,” Redick said. “I know we had 31 potential assists at halftime —18 assists. Luka did a great job of getting us going,” 

Doncic was an offensive catalyst for the Lakers on Sunday. By the half, he led the team with 15 points on an efficient 55.6% shooting clip. He also had eight of their 18 assists.  

Through 48 games, Doncic has been incredibly productive for the Lakers. His 32.5 point per game scoring average is the second-highest mark of his career behind his 2023-24 campaign with the Dallas Mavericks in which he averaged 33.9 points per game en route to winning the scoring title.  

When describing Doncic's game, Redick reused a word commonly employed by his former coach at Duke, Mike Krzyzewski. 

“Yeah, I mean, Coach K used to always use the word daring, you know, there's a daring to Luka's game,” Redick said. It's what makes one of the many reasons that makes him such a special player.” 

Redick highlighted a point in the third quarter in which Los Angeles was struggling to play cohesively. However, he credited Doncic with his ability to continue playing at a high level and pointed to specific examples in which Doncic’s presence was a bright spot for his team. 

“He had a stretch there in the third quarter we really struggled. We were struggling to get kind of cohesive offense and a lot of holding up the basketball and, you know, call timeout,” Redick said. “And I thought that stretch for him, he just made a bunch of amazing plays. And we got our pace back and he split the blitz and scores at the rim.  

“He has the wraparound pass, the one pass he threw to Rui, which Rui airballed, just the anticipation, like not every team that was just out of horn's chin, not every team switches that. So, again, processing speed was spectacular in that stretch.” 

Doncic logged 13 points in the third quarter along with a steal and a block. By the end of the game, the 27-year-old six-time All-Star had a game-high 28 points and nine assists on 10-16 shooting and 4-8 from the perimeter. 

Doncic’s primary scoring help came from LeBron James — who was efficient in his own right. In just under 27 minutes of play, James logged 24 points while going 8-15 from the field and 3-4 from the 3-point line. He also had five assists, two steals and a block. At 41 years old, James is averaging 21.6 points, 5.6 rebounds and seven assists. 

Beyond Doncic and James, the Lakers also had three other players score in double figures: Deandre Ayton and Austin Reaves each had 12 points and Luke Kennard had 11 points. Six of the next seven games for the Lakers will be played at home, starting with the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday.