The Los Angeles Lakers are heading into the 2026 NBA All-Star Break in an interesting position, with them being in a tight race for playoff spots in the Western Conference. Their last few weeks before the Break featured some epic blowout wins and some tough losses against elite opponents. Luka Doncic suffered a hamstring injury that kept him out for the last four and a half games basically of the pre-All Star schedule. But Austin Reaves made his long-awaited return from his calf strain and has been very productive from off the bench in having a minutes restriction to ease him back into action. Meanwhile, LeBron James continues to amaze in his 23rd season with some epic highlight slam dunks, but he did miss one game that put him out of consideration for appearing on a voting ballot for something he has achieved many times in his long and successful career. So, let’s see some of the most significant moments for the Purple & Gold leading up to a very interesting All-Star tournament occurring a bit to the west of downtown L.A.

Lakers Conclude Grammys Trip With Epic Wins in Chicago, D.C., and Brooklyn, But Have Tough Defeats Versus Cavs and Knicks In Potential Final Games For LeBron In CLE & MSG

To conclude January and begin February, the Purple & Gold were still on their longest road trip of the season as they defeated the Chicago Bulls on a somber game on Mon, Jan 26, in which the Lakers were playing on that date for the first time since the tragic deaths of Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven others in a helicopter crash outside Calabasas, Calif six years ago. To pay tribute to the Black Mamba, Luka Doncic was fully locked in as he scored a season-high as a visiting player with 46 points and had 12 assists along with seven rebounds in a 129-118 victory over a young and good Bulls team. LeBron fittingly scored 24 points(Luka scored the amount of points at the age that Kobe would have been if he was alive to witness his Lakers debut, Bryant would have been 47 during this season) and Rui Hachimura chipped in with 23 points. In spite of having five of their players score in double-digits, Chicago suffered its 23rd loss of the season while the Purple & Gold improved their record to 28-17.

The next game on the Grammy’s trip was a special one for the King as the Lakers faced off against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wed, Jan 28 at Rocket Arena in downtown Cleveland. This game could potentially serve as the final game for LeBron James playing in his hometown area as a visiting player(or at all). There are rumors that he could choose to come back onto the Cavs and close out his career on a one-year deal. But this Cleveland squad proved that they didn’t need LeBron at all in this game. In spite of a close and tight score at halftime, the Cavaliers used a 42-point third quarter to breeze past the Purple & Gold, whose offensive attack was flustered due to committing a flurry of turnovers that led to points for the home team. The game turned into a blowout, 30-point win for Cleveland, who had Donovan Mitchell score 25 points and had forward Jaylon Tyson net 20 points along with now-ex Cavalier DeAndre Hunter(traded to the Sacramento Kings before the trade deadline) score 19. In the loss, Luka Doncic scored 29 points in spite of suffering an odd injury when having his foot slip off the elevated platform that the court at formerly-named Quicken Loans Arena is positioned on. The only other Lakers in double-figures in scoring were LeBron(with a lowly 11) and DeAndre Ayton.

To conclude the month of January, the Purple & Gold visited the capital city of Washington D.C and faced the lowly Washington Wizards, who didn’t put up much of a resistance in a game that the Lakers dominated in every facet. A 77-point first half was quite something, as Luka and LeBron were cooking and distributing the ball to their respective teammates. Doncic was so good that he recorded a triple-double… in the first half alone. 26 points, 10 rebounds, 11 assists. That savage statline was added onto in the second half, with a final tally of 37 points, 11 boards and 13 dimes for Luka. Ayton was the second-leading scorer at Capital One Arena with 28 points and 13 rebounds for a double-double. LeBron had 20 points, some of which were produced with some amazing slam dunks. The Lakers blew out Washington by 31 points and scored an-almost season-high 142 points. A good way to get a 29th win on the season indeed.

To open up February, the Lakers traveled to the Big Apple to play a pair of games against the teams in the biggest city in the United States. A visit to Madison Square Garden was in order first as the Purple & Gold played the New York Knicks on a Sunday Night Basketball game broadcasted on NBC. The Lakers held a couple of good leads in the first half, but in the third quarter the Knicks surged ahead with clutch scoring from star players such as Jalen Brunson, OG Anonoby, and Karl-Anthony Towns. Another low-scoring second half doomed L.A and another loss to an elite opponent from the Eastern Conference occurred. On the one-year anniversary of him being acquired from the Dallas Mavericks following a Lakers game at Madison Square Garden, Luka led the team in scoring with 30 points and had 15 rebounds and 8 assists. LeBron James, in his potential final game at the World’s Greatest Arena, scored 22 points while having a very low plus-minus. In their dozen-point win, New York had three of its players score 20-plus points, as Anonoby led the way with 25, Landry Shamet scored 23 points off the bench and former Laker Josh Hart had 20 on the spot. The other three starters for the Knicks cracked double-figures in the 112-100 win.

To close out the Grammys Trip in style, the Purple & Gold defeated the Brooklyn Nets with an impressive offensive performance from a good combination of players, which included Austin Reaves, who was finally back from his calf strain that kept him out for two months. Reaves scored 15 points off the bench in 20 minutes of game action. LeBron led the way in scoring with 25 points while Luka scored 24 and Jake LaRavia had a solid 18 points. With a massive lead at halftime, the Lakers breezed their way through the Nets, who closed out the game strong but still lost by 16 points. With a 5-3 record on the trip(5-2 if the loss against the Clippers in Inglewood isn’t counted), the Purple & Gold had a very successful road trip. As a reward, their next eight games were set to occur at Crypto.com Arena, where they looked to juice up their home record against some pretty good and elite teams.

Injury Scare Back Home: Luka Suffers Hamstring Injury Vs. Sixers, But Reaves Saves Day And Lakers Win Three Games Without A Fully Available Doncic On The Floor Before Break

In their first game back home from the Grammys Trip, the Lakers played host to the Philadelphia 76ers, whom they defeated in a thrilling game back in December. This game against the Sixers was more of a grinder as Philly got off to an early lead with hot shooting and good defense. Making matters worse was that Luka Doncic suffered a hamstring injury in the second quarter and had to be escorted to the X-Ray room for further imaging. Without Luka, the Purple & Gold needed to rely on other sources of offense. One of them was Austin Reaves, who stepped up big time off the bench. Despite being down by eight points at halftime and by 12 points in the third quarter, the Lakers battled back as Reaves, Rui Hachimura and others led the way back in a 34-point third quarter. Down by only two heading into the fourth, Los Angeles took the lead on a three-pointer by Reaves, who scored the first eight points of the period. The defense was also doing well against the Sixers, who were ice cold from the field. A couple of clutch threes from Marcus Smart and Reaves pushed the lead up to double-digits and a couple of layups by LeBron James had the Lakers’ lead at 16 points with four minutes left. But Philly wasn’t going down without a fight and they scored ten straight points to keep the score close with under two minutes left. A couple of dunks by LeBron pretty much put this game into the refrigerator as the Purple & Gold held off the Sixers with a 119-115 win. With no Luka for the second half(he had 10 points before exiting the game), the guy that clearly stepped up was Reaves, who scored 35 points off the bench in only 25 minutes of play. LeBron scored 17 and had ten assists for a double-double. Jake LaRavia and Hachimura had 14 points each and Ayton scored ten points for good contributions. In spite of a trio of good performances from Joel Embiid(35 points), Tyrese Maxey(26 points, 13 assists) and VJ Edgecombe(19 points, 10 rebounds), Philly fell short as the Lakers got their 31st win of the season.

For their next game, the Purple & Gold hosted the Golden State Warriors in a Saturday Primetime game. The Warriors had gone through their own injury woes with Stephen Curry out with a knee injury, Jimmy Butler out with an ACL tear, and the newly-acquired Kristaps Porzingis(whom they traded Jonathan Kuminga and Buddy Hield to the Atlanta Hawks for) out with some Achilles soreness. So, Golden State was nowhere near its full billing of health that they had when they defeated the Lakers on Opening Night way back in October. With a lack of star power, the game was low-scoring in the first half, with the Warriors using the sloppy offense of Los Angeles to their advantage. Having a slight lead at the half, the momentum that Golden State had withered away after Draymond Green was assessed a technical foul at the end of the half. The Lakers went on a good 12-2 run to start the third quarter, and even though the Warriors tried to battle back, the home team clearly had a stranglehold on the lead. In spite of a couple of instances of getting within a point of the lead, Golden State couldn’t crack through with its limited lineup. The Purple & Gold pulled away on an 11-0 run in the fourth quarter and won the game 105-99. LeBron led the Lakers in scoring with 20 points(and had 10 assists for a double-double), while Rui had 18 points and Reaves scored 16 off the bench. Three other players for L.A scored in double figures with Smart scoring 15, Jarred Vanderbilt netting 13 points and Luke Kennard having 10 points in his Lakers debut. In spite of 25 points from Moses Moody and four of his teammates scoring in the teens, the Warriors fell short as they continued to stay in the eight spot in the Western Conference standings. The Lakers continued jostling for positioning in the five and six spots in the standings and with three straight wins, they were in a good spot.

But then they had to play back-to-back games against the top-two teams in the West in the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs. The Thunder were without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Purple & Gold were still without Luka Doncic. The game was another close grinder, with the Lakers battling back from double-digit deficits in the third quarter and holding an eight-point lead with five minutes left. But OKC fought back to retake the lead before the end of the quarter. The fourth quarter was low-scoring and defensive, with the Thunder making the big shots when they needed to and they held off L.A by a final score of 119-110. In the losing effort, LeBron scored 22 points and had ten assists for his third straight double-double, while Smart scored 19 and Reaves netted 16 off the bench. Oklahoma City had Jalen Williams lead in scoring with 23 while having amazing performance off their bench from Isaiah Joe(19 points, with four made three-pointers) and Alex Caruso(17 points). With a loss against the top team in the conference, the Lakers were now 32-20 through 52 games and they turned around to take on the Spurs.

The coaching staff decided to have an off-night occur with a lot of their star players, as Luka was still out with his hamstring injury, LeBron missed the Tuesday night game with left foot arthritis, Reaves was out due to management of his calf, Smart was out due to ankle soreness and DeAndre Ayton had right knee soreness. So, it was basically the equivalent of the starting five who were out for the Purple & Gold against San Antonio and that allowed Victor Wembanyama to go off against them. Wemby scored 25 points… in the first quarter. The Spurs had 47 points as a team in the opening period and the undermanned Lakers simply couldn’t keep up. The game was an absolute blowout, with the final score being 136-108 in favor of San Antonio. Wembanyama had 40 points and 12 rebounds for an epic double-double. Carter Bryant, who is competing in the All-Star Dunk Contest along with Jaxson Hayes, scored 16 off the bench and Dylan Harper, one of the Rising Stars and Shooting Stars participants, had 15 off the bench. The leading scorers for L.A were Luke Kennard and Drew Timme, who both each had 14 points. Hayes scored 13 points and Bronny James actually had 12 points in 25 minutes of game time for a career-high in the NBA. The only normal starter in the lineup for the Lakers was LaRavia, who scored a modest ten while having an ugly plus-minus. The entire team did in this throwaway game against an elite Spurs squad.

The final game before the All-Star break was on Thur, Feb 12 against the Dallas Mavericks, who had just traded Anthony Davis and D’Angelo Russell to the Wizards for a package of veteran players that featured Marvin Bagley III and Khris Middleton off the bench. Luka Doncic was still out for this game, but he did some pregame work on the floor. Cooper Flagg was also out with a foot injury, so this Lakers-Mavs matchup would feature neither of the headliners. It would feature LeBron, Reaves and Smart, who were back from their respective injuries. The game was a close one in the first half, with both teams going on respective runs. The Mavericks closed out the half on a 12-0 run led by their other forward Naji Marshall. In the final three minutes of the third quarter, the Purple & Gold went on a 15-4 run with clutch threes made by Jarred Vanderbilt, Maxi Kleber and Luke Kennard. They pushed the lead up to 20 to start out the fourth quarter and won by that total of points. LeBron led the way in scoring with 28 and actually accomplished an amazing feat of having a triple-double at 41 years old. The King had 12 assists and ten rebounds for a good performance before participating in the USA vs. World All-Star tournament. Hachimura scored 21 points, Reaves had 18 off the bench and Jaxson Hayes punched in 16 points, which included some thrilling dunks before he partakes in the Dunk Contest on Valentine’s Day. Dallas had four of its players score in double figures as Marshall and Max Christie led the way with 19 points each.

Other News: Luka Intends To Play In All-Star Tournament For Injury-Depleted World Squad, LeBron No Longer Eligible For All-NBA Spot

In other news, Luka Doncic intends to play in the All-Star Tournament for the World squad against the USA Stars and USA Stripes teams. The team of international-born players(or with foreign-born roots in their immediate family) is already going to be without Giannis Antetokounmpo and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, so Luka will at least make an effort to play in some of the 12-minute games in the tournament on Sun, Feb 15 at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif. If the tournament was occurring outside of Los Angeles, there would probably be some doubt about whether Doncic would participate.

Someone else who is participating in the All-Star Tournament is LeBron James, who will be on the USA Stripes squad comprised of older American-born players. But something that he is no longer eligible for is the All-NBA team as he missed his 18th game of the season on Tue, Feb 10. Due to the NBA’s rules of players needing to play in at least 65 games of regular season action to be eligible for awards such as MVP and All-NBA, the King is not going to be in consideration for either of those things after his record-breaking 23rd season of NBA play. Hopefully Luka doesn’t miss too many games because of the rule created to discourage “load management” by star players so that he can be in the running for both of those things.

With a 3-2 record at home so far in their split eight-game homestand, the Lakers are now in fifth place in the Western Conference standings as they remain behind the Houston Rockets by a half-game and are barely ahead of the Minnesota Timberwolves, whom they have beaten twice. Some important games in March will occur against each of those teams along with one against the Phoenix Suns in seventh place in a couple of weeks. This team has some improvements to make, but if they can stay the course and do well against some elite opponents on their schedule(including a pair of games still to play against the Denver Nuggets and Warriors along with individual games against OKC, the Boston Celtics, Detroit Pistons, and Cleveland Cavaliers), the Lakers can find themselves in a good spot in the standings and secure a playoff spot. There is still a lot to play for and the Purple & Gold will be ready for whatever comes next on the other side of the All-Star Break.