The Sacramento Kings defensive struggles returned to the forefront as they fell 125-101 to the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday night.
Playing on the second night of a back-to-back seemed to factor in, but no player or coach was going to use that as an excuse.
Conceding 38 points compared to their 29 in the second quarter was the beginning of the end as LeBron James and Luka Doncic picked apart their flaws.
Doncic ended his night with a game-high 34 points, seven assists, and six rebounds, while James added 24 points. Allowing the Lakers to convert 52.8 percent of their looks overshadowed Sacramento’s own 48.2 percent efficiency.
Committing 19 turnovers that led to 23 Los Angeles points didn’t help their cause either.
DeMar DeRozan led the Kings with 22 points, five assists, and four rebounds as they fell to 8-24 on the season.
Kings @ Lakers Game Notes
Heading into the night, aiming to secure their second win streak of the season — while the Lakers looked to avoid their fourth straight loss — both sides were without their core starters.
Keegan Murray, Domantas Sabonis, and Zach LaVine remained sidelined while Los Angeles was without Austin Reaves.
Keon Ellis got the start once again, assigned to Doncic, while Precious Achiuwa was tasked with slowing down the top scorer in NBA history.
The early minutes featured a high-paced, offense-centric style of play, executed in different ways. Doncic and James played fast, pushing their way into the paint with relative ease.
All of their first 12 points came from inside the restricted area, but DeRozan was doing damage of his own. The mid-range maestro tallied eight points in a hurry, aggressive in finding his own shots. It was all knotted up at 13 midway through the opening frame.
Deebo gets the Kings on the board 💪 pic.twitter.com/cV508y612x
— Kings on NBCS (@NBCSKings) December 29, 2025
With recent comments about their lack of cohesion since James re-entered the lineup, he checked out fairly early, leaving Doncic to run the show.
For Kings’ head coach Doug Christie, Achiuwa was replaced by undrafted rookie center Dylan Cardwell, leaving another two-big lineup as he was briefly alongside Maxime Raynaud.
Former Laker Dennis Schroder provided a slight spark, but a classic James look down at the ball triple took his tally to 10 points right as the buzzer left the scoreboard 30-24 in Los Angeles’ favor at the end of one.
Doncic had nine points, three rebounds, and two assists, but was just getting started. It seemed like Christie was matching Ellis’s minutes with Doncic, and the same was true for Achiuwa and James.
While both of those are stellar defenders, as the saying goes, good offense beats out good defense. And they showed why they were among the best individual offensive engines of their eras.
Both were finding their teammates for easy lobs and triples, while Doncic’s self-creation began to take over. Capitalizing on advantageous matchups after switches, Doncic added from the three and the charity stripe.
Malik Monk, another former Laker, added a couple of triples while DeRozan continued to pour in buckets. But a few too many turnovers and not enough stops allowed the game to get out of hand.
The Crypto.com Arena crowd gained energy with each dunk and triple as the home team put together an 11-2 run to close out the half with a 68-53 lead. Sacramento’s 53.7 percent from the field was impressive, but not enough to keep up with the 61.0 percent they were conceding.
Doncic was up to 24 points, four assists, and three rebounds, proving that Ellis may just be too small to contain him. James had 12 points and four assists on an efficient 6/7 night.
Reverse dunk for LeBron who turns 41 in a few days pic.twitter.com/LBKPVCjstP
— Raj C. (@RajChipalu) December 29, 2025
DeRozan led the Kings with 16 points on 7/12 shooting.
If the Kings were going to make this a game, they were going to have to string together some stops. One Doncic triple and James’ lob finish later forced Christie to call a timeout 92 seconds into the half, 73-53 Lakers.
Failing to convert their first five shots of the third, three coming from Westbrook, Sacramento was outscored 13-2 to start the third. Christie called his second timeout roughly two minutes after his previous one as the Lakers claimed their largest lead up to that point (26).
Their bench helped cut the deficit to 18, but it was short-lived. It was to the point where Doncic was darting passes all over the floor, even attempting a no-look behind his head.
Going nearly even in the frame (31-27) wasn’t going to be enough as the Kings trailed 99-80 with 12 minutes to play.
Getting additional opportunities with Austin Reaves sidelined, Nick Smith Jr. converted his open looks en route to a big scoring night.
The same trend continued: it felt like the Lakers were playing to their home crowd, with a comfortable lead and smiles on their faces.
Sacramento’s lone highlight in the quarter came from a Westbrook driving layup that improved his standing on the all-time scoring list to 16th, passing Dominique Wilkins.
Russ passed Dominique Wilkins for No. 16 on the NBA’s all-time scoring list with this bucket 👏 pic.twitter.com/s9T700Et1F
— Kings on NBCS (@NBCSKings) December 29, 2025
The Lakers cleared their bench with more than four minutes remaining, feeling comfortable with their more than 20-point advantage.
Playing on the second night of a back-to-back seemed to factor in, but no player or coach was going to use that as an excuse.
Conceding 38 points compared to their 29 in the second quarter was the beginning of the end as LeBron James and Luka Doncic picked apart their flaws.
Doncic ended his night with a game-high 34 points, seven assists, and six rebounds, while James added 24 points. Smith Jr added 21 points on 5/10 from three as well.
Allowing the Lakers to convert 52.8 percent of their looks overshadowed Sacramento’s own 48.2 percent efficiency.
Committing 19 turnovers that led to 23 Los Angeles points didn’t help their cause either.
DeMar DeRozan led the Kings with 22 points, five assists, and four rebounds as they fell to 8-24 on the season.
More Sacramento Kings coverage on Sactown Sports
Injuries continue to hinder the Sacramento Kings’ 2025-26 season, as their starting forward, Keegan Murray, has gone down with a mild right calf strain.
Murray exited their Tuesday night loss to the Pistons at halftime and did not return.
The Kings announced on Friday, December 26th, that the starting forward will be re-evaluated in one week. That will cause him to miss at least four games against the Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, and Boston Celtics.
Read More:
Another King goes down; Keegan Murray sidelined
Upcoming Sacramento Kings schedule for the 2025-26 season
Tuesday, December 30th – @ Los Angeles Clippers – 8:00 PM PT
Thursday, January 1st – vs. Boston Celtics – 7:00 PM PT
Friday, January 2nd @ Phoenix Suns – 6:00 PM PT
Saturday, January 4th – vs. Milwaukee Bucks – 6:00 PM PT
Tuesday, January 6th – vs. Dallas Mavericks – 6:00 PM PT
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