Player Grades: Lakers vs. Warriors

Grading every Lakers player’s performance from the team’s 123-116 loss to the Warriors.

Well, the Lakers weren’t going to win every game for the remainder of the season.

After a pair of impressive wins over playoff foes, the purple and gold fell at home in a rare home defeat to a Western Conference team, falling to the Warriors despite a pretty furious rally late.

Unfortunately, the Lakers had played some pretty unserious basketball for far too long on Thursday and that caught up with them at the end. Ultimately, the loss wasn’t all that damaging in a vacuum as the team slipped just a half-game behind the Nuggets for the No. 3 seed.

Still, it leaves a sour taste in the mouth and brings the Warriors firmly into the picture for the Lakers in the playoff race over the final week of the season.

So, let’s dive into the loss. As always, grades are based on expectations for each player. A “B” grade represents the average performance for that player.

Rui Hachimura

34 minutes, 24 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 9-15 FG, 3-6 3PT, 3-4 FT, -1

On a night when a lot of guys, particularly role players, were invisible, Rui was the exception. He showed up in a big way, being a consistent threat throughout the game. It was a reminder of just how valuable he can be in big games.

Grade: A

LeBron James

40 minutes, 33 points, 5 rebounds, 9 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 10-15 FG, 5-8 3PT, 8-9 FT, -1

This was pretty safely LeBron’s best game since returning from his groin injury, and it came despite an early injury scare. Of the many encouraging things about the game was that he hit five of his eight 3-pointers.

Grade: A

Jaxson Hayes

15 minutes, 2 points, 3 rebounds, 1 steal, 1-4 FG, +3

On the flip side from Rui, this was a reminder why there are big concerns about Jaxson in big games. He looked entirely out of his depth, and that was never more apparent than during the third quarter when he let some whistles — or lack thereof — catch up to him and then went flying out on a Steph Curry 3-pointer wildly. Predictably, Steph pump-faked, took one step to the side and casually buried the three.

He subbed out 30 seconds after that sequence and didn’t see the floor again for the remainder of the game.

Grade: F

Austin Reaves

40 minutes, 31 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 10-20 FG, 9-16 3PT, 2-3 FT, +2

This is a deceiving stat line for Austin. After hitting his first two shots of the game, Austin was invisible, hitting just one of his next seven shots. It was far from the type of game the Lakers needed from him.

So, how much credit do you give to him for catching fire in the fourth, but that coming too little, too late because, at least partially, of how he played through the first 36 minutes?

Austin’s really good and I hold him to a pretty high standard. So the first three quarters are going to weigh pretty heavily here, despite him setting a career high for 3-pointers.

Grade: B+

Luka Dončić

38 minutes, 19 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, 6-17 FG, 0-6 3PT, 7-7 FT, -3

There’s no debate about this one. This was just an outright bad game from Luka. Like unacceptably bad. Like bad enough that I’m wondering if Nico Harrison made some good points.

I’m joking on that last part, but Luka was just not a factor. That can’t happen in big games, or basically any other game the rest of the season.

Grade: D-

Dorian Finney-Smith

29 minutes, 2 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 block, 1-6 FG, 0-5 3PT, -14

After his best game as a Laker, DFS followed it up with pretty safely his worst game as a Laker. His night was summed up by missing the open wing 3-pointer with about 20 seconds left that would have cut the deficit to two points, chasing down the rebound then turning it over.

A very forgettable night.

Grade: F

Gabe Vincent

17 minutes, 3 points, 1-5 FG, 1-5 3PT, -14

Similarly, this was the worst game Gabe has had in the second half of the season. In just about every sense, he was ineffective.

Grade: F

Jarred Vanderbilt

13 minutes, 2 points, 7 rebounds, 1-3 FG, 0-1 3PT, -7

While Jarred was the bench player who had the most impact, he also was a victim of how the Warriors were playing defense. By shrinking the court and forcing the Lakers to shoot threes, Vando — as a non-shooting wing — became pretty limited in how he could impact the game.

Grade: B-

Jordan Goodwin

14 minutes, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, 0-1 FG, +0

The fact that I do not recall a single thing about Goodwin’s game is probably a good microcosm of his night.

Grade: C-

JJ Redick

A rough night for the Lakers, but Redick did try some new things. He brought in Jaxson at a different time than normal in the third quarter to pair with Luka, trying to spark him and the offense.

I do wonder if it was worth giving Dalton Knecht a chance in the middle of the game, especially in the third quarter or even to start the fourth. The bench was providing nothing and this could have been a game Dalton just provided a spark.

Also, I question the use of his second challenge on a fairly innocuous foul that didn’t really change much, even if he got it right.

Grade: C

Thursday’s DNPs: Bronny James, Dalton Knecht, Christian Koloko, Alex Len, Shake Milton, Markieff Morris

Thursday’s inactives: Maxi Kleber, Trey Jemison III

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.