The Los Angeles Lakers dropped the first game of the 2025-26 season against the Golden State Warriors, 119-109, at home on Tuesday.
So let’s hand out some awards.
1) The ‘Put the team on my back’ Award: Luka Dončić
Dončić opened up his first Lakers season-opening debut with a historic bang, scoring the third-most points by a Laker on Opening Night.
He finished with the most points he’s ever scored on an opening night, with 43 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists, and, of course, we can’t forget to mention his two steals and block in 41 minutes of action.
Luka lit it up in his 1st @Lakers opening night:
— NBA (@NBA) October 22, 2025
43 PTS (career-high for a season opener)
12 REB
9 AST
2 STL
1 BLK
Dončić joins Kobe Bryant (2007) and Elgin Baylor (1959) as the only Lakers to record 40+ PTS in a season opener 🪄 pic.twitter.com/yP3lef4lnP
He made an aggressive effort, attacking inside, hitting 13-of-14 in the paint and 15-for-17 inside the perimeter, according to ESPN Research.
If Dončić’s three-ball had fallen like his twos, he would’ve flirted with a 50-piece—instead, he went just 2-for-10 from deep.
2) The ‘Lackluster Third Quarter Kings’ Award: The entire Lakers roster
I don’t know what it's been about coming out of halftime for the Lakers, but it seems they’ve, for the past multiple seasons, just been lackadaisical and lackluster in third quarters.
That trend from last season continued in the season opener, as the Warriors instantly took advantage with a 16-4 run to start the second half.
They went on to get outscored by Golden State 35-25 in the quarter, which effectively blew the game open for the Warriors and made the Lakers' deficit a more challenging climb.
Even coach JJ Redick voiced frustration with the team's woes coming out of halftime.
“The trend I see is that we continue to be a terrible third-quarter team,” Redick said. Gotta rethink some things, and it's a two-way thing with the guys. What do they need at halftime to make sure they're ready to play? They're not ready to play to start the third quarter.”
3) The ‘Off-Target and Out-of-Sync’ Award: The Lakers roster (again)
The struggles from the preseason carried over, and with a bad first game matchup mixed in with the little time this roster has had together, it made for a disappointing season start.
They committed 20 turnovers, eight of which came out of the gate in the first quarter.
The off-target shooting was another struggle that the Lakers couldn’t get together, shooting 25% from 3 (on 8-of-32) and 60% (17-of-28) from the foul line. The night Dončić had inside balanced their overall percentage as a team, going 54% (42-of-77) from the field.
4) The ‘Wreaking Havoc’ Award: Marcus Smart
Wreaking havoc can be both good and bad. Marcus Smart played his first game as a Laker and instantly made an impact by wreaking havoc. What type of havoc, you say? The type that hurts the team, which he did at times.
Smart had some solid moments on both ends at times, drawing an offensive foul on Steph Curry, getting to the foul line, and finishing the game with nine points in his debut while being the only Laker positive in the plus/minus.
But he had moments of "What are you doing?" in the loss, picking up quick, unnecessary fouls and having dramatic flops.
Here is one example of his flopping on the defensive end that led to one of Buddy Hield’s five 3s on the night.
They call him Buddy Buckets for a reason.
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) October 22, 2025
SHEESH.
📺 @NBAonNBC pic.twitter.com/HisDjk4w30
Here he is trying to draw a foul on a screen without his feet set and crab-walking toward Jonathan Kuminga. Smart was called for the foul. One of his four on the night.
And then he got tangled up with Curry and shoved him to the floor, which got upgraded to a Flagrant 1 for unnecessary action on his part. To be fair, it shouldn't have been upgraded from a common foul, but that's the NBA that's played today.
5) The ‘Two-Man Punch’ Award: Curry and Jimmy Butler
Curry and Butler have slowly shown they are a complementary duo and have made the case to be among the best duos in the NBA, even this late in their careers.
Apparently, the duo, or more so Butler and Draymond Green, are in a competition over who will have the best free-throw percentage between them this season. They both went perfect from the line, with Butler making all 16 attempts and Curry hitting his eight.
The duo combined for 54 points, with Butler leading the team with 31 and Curry right behind him with 23.
It will be a tough challenge for Butler to beat Curry in that category, based on how many trips he’ll take at the charity stripe this season, which will be among the most in the league.
You can also give Hield and Kuminga honorable mentions, with both taking turns hurting the Lakers from deep, combining for nine of Golden State's 17 triples.
6) The ‘Need You Back’ Award: LeBron James
LeBron James watched from the sidelines in street clothes during Tuesday’s loss, and even at 40 years old, entering what will be his 23rd season, his absence was impossible to ignore. He’s expected to remain out for at least a couple of weeks with right-side sciatica, and his return to action is still not guaranteed when that timeframe is up—a blow the Lakers can hardly afford as they are still piecing together their chemistry in a loaded Western Conference.