Shorthanded Lakers fall to Mavericks for 2nd straight loss – Orange County Register

DALLAS — The route the Lakers will have to weave through to extend their season to a point where Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves can both return will hardly be linear.

Doncic and Reaves represent nearly half of the Lakers’ per-game scoring totals. There’s hardly been a moment when neither have been on the court in the 2025-26 season, heralding the ball while running the offense.

And although the Lakers (50-28) fell 134-128 to the Dallas Mavericks (25-53) on Sunday evening – losing consecutive games for the first time since late February – the first of five games of mix-and-match, trial-and-error, fill-in-the-blanks basketball to end the regular season gleaned some of what Coach JJ Redick might rely on in the weeks ahead.

LeBron James expectedly led the way as the focal point of the Lakers’ offense. He scored 30 points on 12-for-22 shooting, to go with 15 assists as he battled with Mavericks rookie sensation Cooper Flagg. The former No. 1 draft pick finished with 45 points a day after scoring 51 points against the Orlando Magic on Saturday. 19 of Flagg’s points came in a stellar first quarter to grasp an 11-point lead.

Luke Kennard, who Redick said would become a part of the team’s ball-handling duties alongside a host of young Lakers guards – Bronny James, Nick Smith Jr., and Kobe Bufkin – tried his best to do everything for the Lakers while starting Sunday. The trade-deadline acquisition recorded his first-career triple-double, recording his 10th assist of the game on an alley-oop to center Deandre Ayton with 6:15 remaining in the third quarter. Kennard tallied 15 points, 16 rebounds and 11 assists on a team-high 41 minutes, grabbing a career-high on the glass and tying his career high for assists.

Big man Maxi Kleber played alongside Jaxson Hayes (23 points on 8-for-10 shooting) as a traditional power forward in some lineups. Hayes cut the lead to five points with 4:22 to go in the fourth quarter, converting a three-point play while fouled on a two-handed slam. But the Lakers struggled to capitalize.

Dallas forward P.J. Washington sank a 3-pointer from the corner on the following possession to re-extend the Mavericks’ lead back to 124-116. On the other end, LeBron James missed consecutive free throws from the line, which snowballed into a converted jumper from Flagg to bring Dallas’ advantage back to 10 points.

The Lakers turned the ball over 12 times on Sunday, fewer than their 14.4 per game entering Sunday, but the Mavericks made the Lakers pay for it, scoring 21 points off turnovers. The Mavericks shot well from beyond the arc, sinking 14 of 32 shots from 3 compared to the Lakers’ eight converted shots from long range.

Bufkin and Smith played a handful of minutes in the first half each, bringing the Lakers to an 11-man rotation on Sunday.

Elsewhere in the NBA, the Minnesota Timberwolves lost to the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday, which means the Lakers can finish no lower than the fifth seed in the Western Conference.