February 28, 2026; San Francisco, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward/guard Luka Doncic (77) and forward LeBron James (23) exchange high fives during the third quarter exchange game against the Golden State Warriors at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images The Los Angeles Lakers, who finished February on a solid note to end a three-game losing streak, will look to jump into March with a visit from the Sacramento Kings on Sunday.
The Lakers won 129-101 over the Golden State Warriors on Saturday, undiminished even when their opponent was without star Stephen Curry.
Luka Doncic had 26 points and 8 assists for Los Angeles on his 27th birthday, while LeBron James celebrated the occasion with 22 points and 9 assists. Austin Reaves added 18 points as Rui Hachimura (illness) missed his second straight game.
The Lakers finally got Doncic, James, and Reaves together on a consistent basis after all three suffered injuries at different times this season. But on-court cohesion wasn’t easy as Los Angeles suffered home losses against the Boston Celtics and Orlando Magic and a road loss to the Phoenix Suns on Thursday.
After shooting 39.1% from the floor against the Celtics, the Lakers have improved on that number in each of their last three games, shooting 53.3% against the Warriors. Doncic, James and Reaves combined to shoot 56.1% (23 of 41).
“After getting lost recently, my back was against the wall,” James said on a Spectrum SportsNet broadcast. “We wanted to fix that and started on the defensive side of things, and then on the offensive side we had a really good rhythm, not turning the ball over.”
Los Angeles continues to sit in sixth place in the Western Conference and holds an automatic spot in the final playoff spot.
The Kings are the worst team in the NBA at 14-47, but have won two of their last three games to snap a recent franchise-record 16-game losing streak.
Precious Achiuwa scored a career-high 29 points with 12 rebounds, Maxime Raynaud had 22 points and Daeqwon Plowden added 19 points off the bench as Sacramento earned a 130-121 road win over the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday.
“We’ve got a great team of playmakers who understand they’re going to get there,” said Plowden, playing in his 18th NBA game in two seasons. “Now I’m looking for windows where I can get out quickly (3-pointers) or cut to the basket or even in transition. It fits well with what we’re doing.”
In the second game of the back-to-back, Sacramento was missing Russell Westbrook (thigh) and Keegan Murray (ankle).
The Kings surpassed their conference-worst average of 110.4 points per game while shooting 50.5 percent from the floor. They won despite the Mavericks shooting 55.6% overall and 43.5% (10 of 23) from 3-point range.
Sacramento had a season-low five turnovers. They also forced 18 turnovers for the Mavericks, resulting in 21 points.
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