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Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors are in Los Angeles taking on Luka Dončić and the Lakers to cap the opening night of the 2025-26 NBA season.
The Lakers are without LeBron James, who is missing a season opener for the first time in his 23-year NBA career due to sciatica.
Signs of life for Lakers: They answer a Will Richard corner 3 out of a Warriors timeout by sprinting to a 9-0 run in 100 seconds. Steve Kerr has to burn a timeout, and the Warriors have only one left for the last 3:59 of what is now a 105-99 lead that was once 15.
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Q4 3:59 – Warriors 105, Lakers 99
There’s Will Richard’s first NBA bucket as the Warriors rookie drains a corner 3.
But here come the Lakers! A 9-0 run with Luka Doncic at the center… he finds Rui Hachimura for a 3, hits a jumper in the paint, and then DeAndre Ayton and Austin Reaves chip in buckets!
Crypto.com arena is rocking for the first time tonight. the Lakers are within six. Timeout Warriors with just under four minutes to play.
Oh my.
This will be Luka Doncic's highest-scoring season opener of his career (previous: 35 points in 2022).
The biggest red flag tonight for the Lakers has to be how good Luka Dončić has been on both sides of the ball. He is 39-12-7. Austin Reaves with 16-5-8 and not much else. Warriors with four players at 17 or more points.
Q4 5:56 – Warriors 102, Lakers 90
Another quick Warriors timeout. Luka Doncic is up to 39 points, and the Lakers have needed every single one of them to remain barely alive in this game.
Q4 7:50 – Warriors 100, Lakers 84
Jimmy Butler gets yet another basket in the paint! Golden State has its biggest lead of the night, and got to that point with Steph Curry on the bench for the last several minutes…
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Q4 8:41 – Warriors 98, Lakers 84
Two more 3-pointers from Buddy Hield early in this quarter, and Steph Curry loves it while watching from the bench!
Golden State is pulling away…
Q4 9:48 – Warriors 95, Lakers 81
Draymond Green gets involved in the Warriors offense, finishing through contact at the rim! Meanwhile, Austin Reaves and his five fouls reenter so Luka Doncic can get his first breather of the second half, which is a pretty good summation of the state of the Lakers offense right now.
Two things to watch in this fourth quarter:
Q4 12:00 – Warriors 90, Lakers 79
Phenomenal hustle plays from young players on both ends as Will Richard hits a putback layup off a Buddy Hield airball on one end followed by Jake LaRavia doing the same on a short Luka Doncic 3-point attempt.
But it was all Golden State in that third quarter, highlighted by a 13-point eruption from Jonathan Kuminga. He’s up to 17, Steph Curry has 18, and Jimmy Butler has 25. Doncic leads all scorers with a whopping 35 of the Lakers’ 79 points.
Q3 1:43 – Warriors 88, Lakers 773
An ugly third quarter for Austin Reaves gets worse as he gets called for his fifth foul. Reaves hasn’t added any complimentary scoring to Doncic, and now has to sit… meanwhile, Buddy Hield hits another 3-poointer and it’s now a 15-point Warriors lead!
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Jonathan Kuminga is rolling here in the third — up to 17 points for the game and has played with the kind of activity Steve Kerr discussed repeatedly in camp. He has provided the Warriors with a really nice lift here to start the second half.
Q3 3:30 – Warriors 81, Lakers 70
Just when it looked like the Lakers could start clawing back into this game, Buddy Hield hits a deep 3-pointer! Luka Doncic is up to 33 points (and 10 rebounds) but it’s still a double-digit Golden State lead!
Luka Doncic is responsible for 15 of his team's 24 field goals and 7 of his team's 11 free throws.
Unfortunately for him, it's his teammates having massive turnover issues: Doncic's teammates have an 8:14 assist-turnover ratio with 17.5 minutes left to play vs Warriors.
Q3 5:55 – Warriors 78, Lakers 61
Another Luka Doncic and-one, and this time he makes the free throw. But the difference in this game right now is that the Lakers can’t find any offense outside of Doncic, while the Warriors have crisp ball movement with all five of their players currently out there contributing — led by a suddenly white-hot Jonathan Kuminga from 3-point range!
The Lakers' second-half issues have carried over into a new season. Lakers have been outscored by 13 after they built up some momentum before the end of the half. Fouls continue to be a killer (Jimmy Butler's offensive rebound and free throws before halftime might be a swing play).
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Q3 8:45 – Warriors 71, Lakers 58
JJ Redick calls a timeout as Golden State has its biggest lead of the night! Jonathan Kuminga and Jimmy Butler are powering the Warriors offense currently with 14 of the team’s 16 points so far this quarter (Kuminga has eight after just four in the first half while Butler has six).
First 100 seconds of the second half:
Q3 9:25 – Warriors 67, Lakers 58
A pattern is quickly emerging: The Warriors get out in transition, Jimmy Butler and Jonathan Kuminga make some beautiful offense happen, and then Luka Doncic mucks it up on the other end… and misses a free throw.
Doncic has all four Lakers points, but Kuminga already has six of his own in this quarter on back-to-back 3-pointers, and Butler has four of his own.
