The Suns had beaten the Lakers in two of their three meetings this season, often being the more physical and aggressive team, but a lot of their key players were out in this game. That didn’t matter, however, as the Suns continued to have their way with the Lakers, beating them 113-110 in the final seconds.

Coming off a rough shooting night, Luka Doncic got off to a nice start in this one by making his first two shots. Outside of that though, the Lakers were struggling offensively early with the Suns jumping out to a 17-9 lead.

L.A. had a quick response with a 12-0 run to take their first lead. Doncic had five more points during that span while LeBron James also got going offensively.

Luke Kennard came in and made an immediate impact, including finishing a layup after a slick behind-the-back pass from James, to give the Lakers a 27-22 lead at the end of the first.

Phoenix got hot from deep to begin the second quarter, regaining the lead and forcing a Lakers timeout. Things started to spiral for the Lakers as they had some silly turnovers, leading to back-to-back triples by the Suns to go up by 10.

Again though, the Lakers responded with a run of their own. Jake LaRavia got it started with a 3-pointer and then Doncic and Reaves each hit one as well. The Suns beat the halftime buzzer to end the run, tying the game at 49.

The Lakers picked up where they left off to begin the third quarter, scoring 11 straight points with Doncic and James leading the charge. Doncic found Deandre Ayton for an alley-oop, giving the big man his first bucket of the night and forcing a Suns timeout with L.A.’s lead reaching double digits.

Similar to what happened in the first half, the Lakers let go of the rope from there. They had some more silly turnovers and Grayson Allen made them pay with back-to-back 3s. Allen then hit another one out of a Lakers timeout and the game wound up being tied at 80 at the end of the third.

Ayton committed a costly Flagrant 1 foul on a reckless closeout, allowing the Suns to jump back in front after a six-point possession that started an 11-0 run.

Marcus Smart tried to bring the Lakers back with a triple and three-point play, but there was still a lot more work to be done. Doncic picked it up from three with a pair of 3s of his own, and all of a sudden it was a two-point game.

The Lakers needed to get a stop and got lucky with Allen missing an open triple. Reaves then responded with a 3 and the game was tied with 22 seconds to go.

Phoenix had the ball with the shot clock off, running it all the way down to get the final shot and Royce O’Neale drilled a triple for the win.

What’s next for the Lakers…

The Lakers will wrap up their quick two-game road trip on Saturday evening against the Golden State Warriors before returning home and hosting the Sacramento Kings on Sunday.

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Both of these teams have failed to meet expectations this season in a way, but the Magic kept fighting all night and came away with a 110-109 victory over the Lakers.

LeBron James got off to a great start in this one as he had 10 early points, including a pair of 3-pointers. After a three-point play by Luka Doncic, the Lakers took a 17-10 lead.

Doncic got hit in the face by Moe Wagner and appeared to be in some pain but was eventually able to stay in the game. In true Luka fashion, he fired up a triple on the next possession and made it. Doncic joined James in double figures in the first quarter as the Lakers led 33-25.

Wendell Carter Jr. was the only Magic player that could get anything going offensively as he tried to keep the game from getting out of reach early. Tristan da Silva gave him some help with back-to-back 3s, but Deandre Ayton got going inside with five straight points for the Lakers to answer.

Both teams were sloppy to end the first half as the scoring came to a halt with the Lakers taking a 56-53 lead into the halftime locker room.

After a rare scoreless first half, Austin Reaves led a 9-0 run to begin the third quarter, scoring seven points and throwing a lob to James.

The Lakers’ offense got stagnant from there, however, missing the opportunity to continue extending the lead. Paolo Banchero finally got going for Orlando with a 17-point third quarter, getting their double-digit deficit back to a manageable margin at 80-79 going into the fourth.

The Magic opened up the first quarter with back-to-back buckets, regaining the lead for the first time in a while. With things starting to slip away for the Lakers, Reaves hit a big triple and then had a three-point play to tie it up once again.

With both teams continuing to exchange buckets, the game was tied at 98 with around five minutes to play.

Doncic did not have a good shooting night, but he hit back-to-back jumpers down the stretch for L.A. He then found Rui Hachimura for a 3 to go back ahead, although Banchero responded with an and-one.

With the Lakers up two in the final minute, Desmond Bane drilled a triple to put Orlando back in front.

After a timeout, Doncic found a cutting James for a dunk. The Magic had one more look, and Carter had a putback after a missed shot by Banchero.

That put Orlando up by one with 6.7 seconds to play, and James missed a fadeaway at the buzzer to secure the victory for the Magic.

What’s next for the Lakers…

The Lakers will now hit the road for division matchups with the Phoenix Suns and Golden State Warriors on Thursday and Saturday, respectively, before returning home and hosting the Sacramento Kings on Sunday.

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He wasted no time doing that by hiring Lon Rosen to be the organization’s president of business operations, replacing Tim Harris who is leaving the organization at the end of this season.

One thing that seemingly won’t be changing is Rob Pelinka running basketball operations as he recently revealed that he and team Governor Jeanie Buss will remain in their current roles.

That was confirmed by Rosen, who spoke to the media for the first time and stated that Pelinka will remain president of basketball operations, via Dave McMenamin of ESPN:

New Lakers president of business operations Lon Rosen told reporters this evening that Rob Pelinka will remain as the team’s president of basketball operations and while Earvin “Magic” Johnson will surely be around the franchise, no official title is planned for him with LAL

— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) February 25, 2026

Rosen used to be the long-time agent of Magic Johnson, who has also worked with him in the Dodgers organization the past handful of years. Because of that, it’s not surprising to see that Johnson will continue to be around the Lakers, even if it’s not in an official capacity.

Johnson, of course, has a checkered past with Pelinka dating back to when they ran the front office together from 2017-19 before the former resigned.

According to recent reports, the Lakers are planning to model their front office after the Dodgers, which means they will likely make some additions this offseason, even if Pelinka will continue to be in charge.

Lon Rosen outlines goals in new role with Lakers

Lon Rosen expressed his excitement to be returning to the Lakers organization and outlined his goals in his new role.

“I’m beyond grateful to Jeanie and Mark for trusting me with this incredible opportunity,” said Rosen. “As everyone knows, the economics of the sports business are constantly changing – and they will continue to do so.

“But, at root, my job is a simple one: figuring out how to do right by our employees and our partners while ensuring that the Lakers continue to provide an unparalleled experience for our fans in Los Angeles and around the world. I look forward to working alongside Jeanie, Rob and the whole front-office team to make that happen.”

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The best way to honor Riley though would be by beating the rival Boston Celtics, and they had a chance to do exactly that. Unfortunately though, the Celtics were the more aggressive team and were able to leave Los Angeles with a 111-89 victory.

LeBron James was looking spry early as he had the first four points of the game to get the Lakers off to a quick start. The Celtics were hot from deep early, but Luka Doncic also hit a pair of his own to match them.

Offense slowed down to end the first quarter as both teams were playing sloppy. Austin Reaves drew a foul to beat the buzzer, tying the game at 28 going into the second.

Jarred Vanderbilt was playing hard to start the second quarter, drawing a charge and then hitting a 3-pointer to regain the lead.

The Lakers were frustrated with the officiating as Reaves and Marcus Smart both picked up technicals after the latter was called for a foul despite being elbowed in the face by Jaylen Brown. That led to a 7-0 run by the Celtics before Doncic scored to end it.

Much like the end of the first, the second quarter was a rock fight with the officials letting them play super physical. The Lakers weren’t really able to adjust to that and the Celtics took a 60-50 lead into the halftime locker room as a result.

After finally getting fully healthy for the first time all season, the Lakers ruled out Jaxson Hayes at halftime with a right ankle issue, putting them down a big man.

Not much changed in the third quarter as the Celtics kept up their physicality and the Lakers continued to struggle offensively. Boston also struggled for most of the quarter until Pritchard and Brown got hot late to give them an 84-71 lead going into the fourth.

The Lakers started to get something going offensively as back-to-back layups by James and Rui Hachimura got their deficit back to single digits. The comeback attempt was short-lived, however, as the Celtics immediately responded and the Lakers struggled to get open shots to go. Boston eventually built its lead back up, cruising to an easy win.

What’s next for the Lakers…

The Lakers will be back in action on Tuesday night when they host the Orlando Magic before going on the road for division matchups with the Phoenix Suns and Golden State Warriors.

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It’s unclear when exactly Hayes got injured, but he played five minutes in the first half before being ruled out, finishing with two points and one rebound.

The Lakers had just gotten fully healthy for the first time all season, so this injury comes at an unfortunate time as they were looking to build some continuity.

It remains to be seen how much time Hayes will miss, if any, but Deandre Ayton and Maxi Kleber should get a majority of the center minutes in his absence. JJ Redick could also opt to go small at times.

Hayes is the Lakers’ main lob threat and has brought quality energy off the bench all season, so hopefully this ankle injury is a minor one and he will be back shortly.

LeBron James discusses keys for Lakers offensively

If the Lakers are going to make a run in the second half of the season then they will be relying on their offense, and LeBron James recently discussed keys for them on that side of the ball.

“When we sharing the ball and we’re moving the ball and we have 25-plus assists in the game, we’re a pretty good team,” James said. “We want to try to aim for everyone, everybody to feel involved. I thought Smart, stay ready. I thought he was a true professional. You know, didn’t shoot the ball at all pretty much throughout the first three quarters and then in the fourth quarter, hit big time shots for us.

“So, offensively, we just want to, we try to have low turnover games. Which we we got to continue to be better at that. Not turning the ball over and giving teams pick 6s, but then just everybody feeling the ball, getting the ball moving. So obviously, it starts with Luka and myself and AR, we are the primary ball handlers, and getting everybody involved and not turning the ball over as much. So it was good offensive display for us.”

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