Austin Reeves’ Luka Doncic joke nearly failed in the middle of a 51-point masterclass

Austin Reeves has built a pretty close friendship with Luka Dončić even though they were teammates at Los Angeles Lakers in a little less than nine months. The two always banter with each other, with Reeves clown Doncic after missing a free throw Friday night during their 127-110 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves – leaving him just one point shy of his first 50-point game as a member of the Purple and Gold.

On Sunday night, with Doncic out for a week due to multiple injuries, the onus was on Reaves to lead the Lakers offense against the Sacramento Kings. He finished with the best game of his career so far — 51 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists on 12-22 shooting from the field, 6-10 from deep and 21-22 from the charity stripe.

But Doncic must be laughing somewhere that Reeves almost ended up with the same fate as him. Reeves, to whom the whole world is an oyster, admitted that he felt some pressure at the foul line as he neared the 50-point mark, as his prank on his fellow Lakers nearly backfired.

“I’m not going to lie, I went to the free throw line. S**t, I better not miss,” Reaves said, drawing laughter from the press room, via Khobi Price of the So Cal News Group.

“I’m not going to lie, I went to the free throw line. I’m like, s—, I better not miss,” Austin Reaves, who scored a career-high 51 points tonight in Sacramento after laying down Luka Doncic on IG Friday night: https://t.co/OUaGIVNzf4 pic.twitter.com/KKSs9A63465

— Khobi Price (@khobi_price) October 27, 2025

With 23 seconds left and the game essentially over in the Lakers’ favor, Reaves was intentionally fouled as the Kings made a last-gasp comeback. He ended up making both free throws, becoming just the fifth Lakers player since 2000 to score over 50 points (joining LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal and Anthony Davis).

As much as Reaves and Doncic love to clown each other, no one in the world is happier for the former than the latter after he gave the Lakers a much-needed win despite coming up short.

Austin Reaves, Lakers lay down a shot from the foul line

The Lakers were playing with house money on Sunday and it was evident that they were playing like they had nothing to lose. Reeves was ultra-aggressive and shot 22 free throwschanneling his inner Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the process.

But as a team, the Lakers shot great from the foul line. They made 41 of their 46 free points (89.1 percent), and that was more than enough to offset the Kings’ 30-point advantage on 3-pointers (18 made 3-pointers for Sacramento, just eight for LA).