The Lakers beat the Knicks 110-97 on Sunday with LeBron James missing his second straight game due to elbow, knee, and foot issues. Luka Dončić scored 35 points, and Austin Reaves added 25 in a game Los Angeles controlled throughout.
The win pushed the Lakers to 13-7 without James this season and 9-2 in games where Dončić and Reaves both play without him — a record that has started to raise questions about how the offense functions differently depending on who is running it.
The 9-2 record without LeBron says more about Dončić and Reaves than it does about James
Nobody is arguing that the Lakers are better without a player who is still producing at an elite level in his 23rd season. But the 9-2 mark when Dončić and Reaves share the backcourt without James is too lopsided to dismiss as a scheduling quirk.
When James sits, the offense flows through Dončić as the primary creator, and Reaves shifts from a spot-up role into a secondary playmaker who handles the ball significantly more. Reaves has averaged around 28 points and nearly eight assists per game in those minutes, which is a different player than the one who shares the court with James.
Against New York, the partnership looked like it has for most of the season when James is out. Dončić handled the scoring volume while Reaves added playmaking and defensive activity, helping hold the Knicks to 97 points and generating turnovers that swung momentum early. The Lakers played faster and spread the floor more aggressively than they typically do with James in the lineup.
Dončić’s MVP-caliber numbers and Reaves’ growth have changed what the Lakers can be
Dončić is averaging 32.5 points, 8.4 assists, and 7.8 rebounds per game in his first full season with the franchise. That production makes him the offensive engine regardless of who else is on the floor. Reaves, at 27, is averaging roughly 23.5 points and 5.4 assists while shooting efficiently, and the recent addition of Luke Kennard has pushed the Lakers near the top of the league in three-point percentage, giving both guards more space to operate.
James remains questionable for the upcoming game against Minnesota, and JJ Redick’s challenge over the final weeks is figuring out how to integrate the version of the team that works without James into the version that includes him.
The 13-7 record without James and the Sunday win over New York have not answered that question, but they have shown that Dončić and Reaves have built something real together — and that the Lakers’ playoff identity may depend on how Redick uses that pairing as much as it depends on James being available.