Lakers News: Domantas Sabonis Triple-Double Flattens Lakers

A fifth straight 30+ night from King James was not enough.

Spoiler alert: your Los Angeles Lakers without Anthony Davis just might not be very good.

Tonight, with AD sidelined (that's going to be a common phrase for at least the next month, so buckle up, L.A.'s interior defenders were no match for Sacramento Kings All-Star center Domantas Sabonis notch a 13-point, 21-rebound, 12-assist triple-double in a 134-120 Sacramento victory.

Lakers All-Star LeBron James did score 30 or more points for the fifth consecutive contest (keep in mind, he turns 38 in a week), but it wasn't ultimately enough to lift the Lakers. With the loss, Los Angeles falls to a miserable 13-18 record. Conversely, the victory lifts the Kings to a 17-13 record on the season.

One glass-half-full note: at least Dennis Schröder had a decent shooting night, wherein he notched 18 points for L.A. on 6-of-13 shooting from the floor (2-of-4 from deep). That included this nifty teardrop:

Beautiful floater 🎈 pic.twitter.com/BRq48CIZgN

— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) December 22, 2022

James, though he has a predilection to snooze a bit on defense, sure can make a show of it when he does opt to guard the opposition, as he does here with this relatively ground-bound rejection of De'Aaron Fox.

LeBlock pic.twitter.com/dr5Pz8q97x

— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) December 22, 2022

That's not to say that King James was unable to show off his remaining athleticism against the Kings in small bursts, as with this hyperdrive fastbreak near the close of the first half.

Nothing stopping the freight train! 👑 pic.twitter.com/Lh9Brj5aml

— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) December 22, 2022

At the break, the Kings were leading the Lakers 66-58. James had already accrued 19 points, three assists and three boards.

Sabonis went to work in the second half, taking advantage of switches...

Flashing his court awareness in the high post...

And again...

Keegan is putting on shooting clinic 🎯 pic.twitter.com/sDCKlQ6ZsT

— Kings on NBCS (@NBCSKings) December 22, 2022

And reminding reserve Lakers power/forward center (6'9" with long arms but a string bean) that he's an actual center, not a makeshift small ball one, as he just backs Gabriel plain out of bounds on this finish:

TD swats LeBron ➡️ Sabonis slams it home pic.twitter.com/Bt86a4sXDL

— Kings on NBCS (@NBCSKings) December 22, 2022

As proved to be the case on Monday in that Phoenix Suns loss, only one Laker playing major center minutes really stepped up to meet the moment tonight, and that was Thomas Bryant, who had 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting, 10 rebounds, four assists and a steal.