On Monday evening, the Los Angeles Lakers went into Portland and picked up a relatively comfortable road win over the upstart Trail Blazers despite playing without both Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, in addition to LeBron James. The Lakers were able to pull out this victory thanks to 29 points from Rui Hachimura and 28 from former Blazers center Deandre Ayton, as well as an unexpected 25-point outburst from guard Nick Smith, Jr.
The Lakers also got a strong contribution from Bronny James, son of LeBron James and a 2024 second round draft pick, who scored five points to go along with six assists in the win.
James has already logged minutes in five of the Lakers' first eight games so far this year, including rotational minutes in their last two against the Miami Heat and now the Blazers. In the game against Miami, James produced one of the highlights of the early season for Los Angeles by finishing a fast break initiated by Reaves with an impressive slam dunk.
Overall, James is looking much more comfortable out on the floor and seems to be adjusting well to the speed and physicality of basketball on the NBA level.
A hot start for the Lakers
With the win over the Trail Blazers, the Los Angeles Lakers now sit at 6-2, having fully put their opening night dud against the Golden State Warriors in the rearview mirror.
The play of Doncic and Reaves has drawn most of the headlines, but arguably the most important storyline of the early season for the Lakers is the fact that the team seems to have more depth than some expected, with players like Jake LaRavia, Rui Hachimura, and Deandre Ayton all playing above their expectation levels coming into the season.
Of course, we're still less than two weeks into the year, and it's entirely possible that the law of averages comes into play sooner rather than later and the Lakers fall back down to the middling spot in the Western Conference that most expected them to occupy.
However, the early returns on this 2025-26 squad are encouraging, to say the least.
