Luka Dončić shouldered the blame for Deandre Ayton only getting seven field-goal attempts in the Los Angeles Lakers' 119-109 loss to the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday night.

Luka Doncic and the Los Angeles Lakers couldn’t overcome the Golden State Warriors to begin their 2025-2026 season. While LA came up short, Luka’s personal perf

The Los Angeles Lakers are set to begin their 2025-26 NBA campaign in just a few hours. For the first time, the season will begin with Luka Doncic leading the charge. Enough time has passed for people to have made their peace with the blockbuster trade last season,

Luka Doncic joins Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant in Lakers’ elite season opener club originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Warriors have too much firepower for the Lakers, who continued to rally in the second half but fall short in the season opener.

On Tuesday night at Crypto Arena, the Warriors’ team-centric approach to scoring the ball prevailed over the Lakers’ all-Luka Doncic, all the time tactics in a 119-109 victory. With sciatica relegating LeBron James to a spectator, Doncic was unstoppable as a scorer and put up 43 points.

Jimmy Butler scored 31 points, Stephen Curry added 23 and the Warriors overcame Luka Doncic’s 43-point night to beat the Lakers 119-109 on Tuesday.

For what it’s worth, Nowitzki was not alone in his take. Fellow Mavs legend Steve Nash also named Doncic when asked about his MVP prediction, while sports reporter Taylor Rooks had the same thoughts and mentioned how she was impressed by the Slovenian star’s conditioning during the offseason.