Austin Reaves’ first game without Lebron James and Luka Doncic went how everyone predicted. Phenomenally! All that offseason doubt, veterans saying he should take a trade, no room for him on Doncic’s team… hogwash! He just proved he can hold down the fort when the stars take a seat. Even LeBron James acknowledged it. There’s a lot said about LeBron on the sideiness, mostly negative stuff. Moments like these prove he’s still invested in this squad.

After the Lakers beat the Kings, 120-127 in a close match, James hopped on X.com not to celebrate the win. He was hyped for his teammate who is not Luka Doncic.

“50 piece 🐔 nugget!!!!! That boy AR TOOOO TOUGH!!” he tweeted after Reaves went 51 – not 50 – points. A career high for him.

He even roped Luka Doncic, who’s sidelined with a leg contusion and finger injury, into it. “Damn that’s crazy we almost had back to back 50 balls. Damnit Don! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣! Sick back court! 🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾” Of course, he was going to take poke fun at Doncic. Reaves just outdid Luka’s 43-point season-opener by 8 points.

AR added to that stat line with 11 rebounds and nine assists, all on just 22 FG attempts, and two steals in almost 40 minutes of playtime. He was 21-for-22 from the charity stripe, a stat that’s impressing analysts, and 6-for-10 from beyond the arc.

He carried the team during mounting injuries and improved them to a 2-1 record. He deserved some of Daddy Bron’s attention at the cost of Doncic. Waiting on the petty banter post-game.

Austin Reaves has the last laugh over Luka Doncic

Just a day before the season began, Luka Doncic called Austin Reaves his “least favorite,” and “childish.” All for giggles, of course. Doncic and AR were the expected stars going into this season while LeBron James has been sidelined by sciatica for at least three weeks.

It was easy breezy at the start without Bron as Luka 2.0 and the new look Lakers showed improvement. Doncic went 43 points but couldn’t overcome Stephen Curry & Co. The Warriors beat them 119-109 and went back home. They played the Timberwolves next where Doncic made 49 points, and they won 128-110.

While redeemed at 1-1 record, Doncic had yet to crack the 50-point mark. He probably didn’t think his least favorite childish teammate will beat him to it but Lakers fans did. They knew that Austin Reaves was going to get his time to shine without the big stars and they were right.

In Doncic’s and  James’ absence, Gabe Vincent was going to fill the void. But he too suffered an ankle sprain early in the third quarter of Sunday night’s game. He brings the Lakers injury count to six players. The restricts the Lakers rotation even more.

Austin Reaves led the Lakers’ supporting cast through the series of setbacks to have the night of his career. DeAndre Ayton added 22 points and 15 rebounds, Rui Hachimura had 18 points, Marcus Smart and Jake LaRavia had 11 a piece, and Jarred Vanderbilt had 9 points. Bron’s posts also minimize the speculation that he’s checked out of the team. He’s out here being a proud dad playing favorites. Now we need AR to be really childish and do the smug walk-by to Luka.