LOS ANGELES: The 2025-2026 NBA season kicked off on Tuesday, October 21, 2025. The opening night of the new season featured a doubleheader with the Houston Rockets playing the Oklahoma City Thunder, followed by the Golden State Warriors taking on the Los Angeles Lakers. The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Houston Rockets 140-139 in double overtime in the first game, and the Golden State Warriors beat the Los Angeles Lakers 119-109 in the nightcap.
Luka Doncic’s 43-point performance couldn’t save the Los Angeles Lakers from the season opener defeat against the Golden State Warriors on opening night. The nightcap on Tuesday had another specialty: NBA legend LeBron James missed a season opener for the first time in 23 years, and the top scorer in the league is expected to be out until mid-November.
The fight between the Warriors and Lakers has been one of the biggest rivalries over the last decade, and Luka Doncic wasn’t able to single-handedly carry the Lakers during the absence of LeBron James. The opening night 119-109 Golden State win, explicitly displayed that the Warriors can be a threat in the West and the Lakers have so much work to do to deliver without LeBron.
“My confidence is fine,” Says Luka Doncic After The Loss
The Los Angeles Lakers have dropped their season opener, 119-109. Luka Doncic, with his stunning 43-point performance, was not enough to close down that 10-point gap and get more. Doncic finished his game with one assist short of a triple-double, getting a game-high 43 points, 12 rebounds, and 9 assists.
He was very aggressive throughout the game, and the opening day nightcap was his highest scoring game in a Lakers uniform, but his performance was not enough to seal the victory for the Los Angeles Lakers without LeBron.
“I think there was a lot of positive things tonight, and obviously a lot of things we’ve got to work on.”
Doncis said after the defeat.
No other Lakers except Luka Doncic, Guard Austin Reaves, and Deandre Ayton reached double figures. Reaves scored 26 points, whereas Ayton added 10. The Lakers needed more in the third quarter beyond Doncic’s and Reaves’s contributions, and the Warriors went on a 20-5 run in the third quarter, which almost sealed the game.
Deandre Ayton wasnt up to his levels, and he was not aggressive enough to give the competitive advantage the Lakers deserve. The experts also pointed out that the Lakers’ defense was not good enough and way behind what they are expected to be.
The Golden State Warriors, meanwhile, led by Jimmy Butler, Stephen Curry, Kuminga, and Hield, managed to basket the ball timely and sealed the game before the fourth quarter. Jimmy got 31 points, Stephen, Kuminga, and Hield managed to get 17 each, and the collective effort from these players helped the Warriors connect a 17-of-40 shots, which is 42.5% from 3-point range. Al Horford scored five points in his Warriors debut and hit a 3-pointer on the first shot of his 19th NBA season.
The Lakers will play next against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday, October 24; meanwhile, the Warriors will be back home to conquer the Denver Nuggets on Thursday, October 23.
“It’s Hard to Forget About LeBron,” – Coach JJ Redick
The Los Angeles Lakers coach, JJ Redick, acknowledged that he had difficulties managing the Lakers without LeBron James, and he is thinking about the long-term prospects when he is back, instead of short-term resolutions. Redick said that it was hard to forget about LeBron. He added that the reality was that when they were focused on the group they had, they had to make that group work.
However, sometimes they could just be like, ‘Oh my God, they were going to get LeBron back at some point!’ To be honest with them, he had had one moment in that first half when they had a few possessions where they couldn’t score against the zone, and he thought it would be great to have LeBron just to throw it to at the high post.
James is suffering from Sciatica, a condition that affects the sciatic nerve. The physios have confirmed that he has been dealing with this issue since the beginning of the training camp, and he will undergo a thorough checkup in late October or early November. Redick has already mentioned that he will be out for a few games and is expected to return when he is fully recovered.
Lakers coach JJ added that they had known that he was dealing with nerve irritation. He hoped that he would be back soon, mentioning that those things could be tricky. They had known this going into camp, so it wasn’t like it had changed anything for how they wanted to practice or what their philosophies were with the preseason games.
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