On Feb. 4, 1987, the Lakers had a remarkable first quarter on the way to a blowout victory over the Sacramento Kings. Los Angeles owned a 34-11 record at the time, while Sacramento was a dismal 14-31.

The game got underway under the bright lights of the Great Western Forum, with the Lakers never looking back from tip off. After 12 minutes passed, they held a ridiculous 40-4 lead.

The defensive effort was part of an NBA record as the Kings’ four points were an all-time low for a single quarter in the shot clock era, which began in 1954.

The Kings rebounded with a 31-point second quarter, but they also allowed the Lakers to score 31 as well. With a 71-35 halftime lead, the Lakers would step off the gas pedal coming out of halftime, allowing their stars a chance to rest.

A 32-22 third quarter shrank the lead down to 26 points, but still the Kings still remained too far out of striking distance. With Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy only playing 23 minutes, some of the lesser-known players on the roster got an opportunity to make an impact.

The bench unit of the Lakers would outscore the Kings 35-25 in the fourth, capping off the 128-92 victory. Byron Scott finished with a team-high 21 points, while Reggie Theus led the Kings with 25 points.

1987 Laker would go on to win championship

That Lakers team was one of the most dominant in NBA history, going 65-17 in the regular season to earn the No. 1 seed in the West and then going 15-3 in the playoffs to win the championship.

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There were also rumors that the Lakers had interest in Sacramento Kings guard Keon Ellis. It was clear the Kings were going to move on from him, as he had league-wide interest despite the franchise believing he wasn’t worthy of consistent playing time. Both of those rumors suggested that the Lakers knew they needed defensive-minded perimeter players who could at least somewhat regularly hit shots from deep.

Both of those connections went by the wayside on Saturday night, however, when it was reported that the Cavaliers and Kings agreed to a trade swapping the two players, via Shams Charania of ESPN:

BREAKING: The Cleveland Cavaliers are trading De'Andre Hunter to the Sacramento Kings for Dennis Schroder and Keon Ellis, sources tell ESPN. The three-team deal includes the Chicago Bulls acquiring Kings forward Dario Saric and two future second-round picks. pic.twitter.com/Hoc6bP0hhj

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 1, 2026

The Cavaliers reportedly wanted Rui Hachimura from the Lakers in any Hunter deal, in part due to his expiring contract and Cleveland’s hopes of getting under the second apron. They instead get away from Hunter’s multi-year deal for a cheaper one in Dennis Schroder, as well as the expiring Ellis. The trade saves them about $7 million this year and upwards of $10 million next year.

Schroder and Ellis also arguably make them better than Hunter did. While Hunter provided a need on the wing, having guards who can defend could massively help as they try to make a run in the weak Eastern Conference this season.

Regardless, neither Ellis nor Hunter are available targets for the Lakers, further increasing the likelihood that the purple and gold stand pat at this week’s deadline.

Lakers’ interest in De’Andre Hunter was overstated

It’s possible, though, that the Lakers never had any real plans to go after Hunter when he was on the Cavaliers. Reports state that L.A.’s interest in him may have been overstated. We’ll never know for sure now, given that Hunter is off the board.

If the Lakers are going to make a move to add defense to their roster, it likely won’t be with the Kings or Cavs.

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The difference in the game was at the 3-point line as the Lakers made just 6-of-33 attempts (18%) compared to 17-of-26 (65%) for the Kings. They came in as two of the worst shooting teams in the league, but the Kings looked anything but compared to the Lakers.

After the loss, Lakers head coach JJ Redick discussed the team’s poor shooting and how much it impacted the game, via Spectrum SportsNet:

“We can’t make a shot. If you look at it, first of all, [the Kings] are right there with us as far as being the worst shooting teams in the league. That was tied with Houston for the highest anyone has shot all season, so that’s typical. We were 28th before tonight in opponent 3-point percentage and we’ll be 29th or 30th after tonight. We had 50 potential assists tonight, we converted on 21 of those. Expected score we won by 24. This has been the theme. It’s been a theme. Just keep shooting, I guess.”

Redick added that he liked the looks the Lakers were getting but as has been the case a lot this season, they couldn’t convert:

“If you have a wide open shot, you have to take a wide open shot. Yup.”

Not only do the Lakers struggle to make 3s, but they also struggle to defend them. So even though the Kings don’t usually shoot it well, Redick wasn’t surprised by their hot shooting night:

“The 3-point percentage, that’s typical. Look, I think it’s the last seven going into tonight, we’ve been one of the top defenses in the league. So we’re doing some things, we just faced a hot shooting team tonight.”

The Lakers’ hot start to the season now feels like ages ago as they have lost three straight and seven of their last 11. Redick and the coaching staff are gonna have to figure out a way to get this team to compete despite all of their injuries and roster deficiencies, which has been a challenge in recent weeks.

It would help if players could make open shots, but other things like effort seem to need to be addressed as well.

JJ Redick undecided on Lakers starting lineup when Rui Hachimura returns

The Lakers will get Rui Hachimura back in the lineup on Tuesday, which should help with their 3-point shooting as he has been one of the best in the league so far this season. Hachimura hasn’t been a great fit with the starting lineup, however, and Redick is undecided on what his first group will look like once everyone is healthy.

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There was some added intrigue for this game after Dennis Schroder recently got into a physical altercation with Luka Doncic after the last time these two teams met on Dec. 28. Schroder was suspended for this game, but that didn’t matter as the Kings were able to beat the Lakers, 124-112.

LeBron James got the Lakers off to a quick start with six straight points. The Lakers’ defense was on point early, leading to a fastbreak layup for Doncic to take an 8-2 lead and force a Kings timeout.

After James’ hot start, Doncic got going offensively with a pair of midrange buckets, a spinning layup and a triple. Before things got out of hand though, the Kings responded with a 7-0 run. Sacramento carried that momentum through the end of the quarter, taking a 32-28 lead.

The Lakers went ice cold offensively to end the first and start the second as no one could hit an outside shot. The Kings weren’t having an issues though as they quickly extended their lead to double digits.

Malik Monk was absolutely on fire against his former team as he made five triples in a row to continue growing Sacramento’s lead. The Lakers did have a strong close to the half, led by Doncic. He beat the buzzer with a triple to give himself 26 points at the break and cut L.A.’s deficit to 61-54.

DeMar DeRozan and Russell Westbrook opened the third quarter strong to quickly get the Kings lead back to double digits. Sacramento opened the third quarter on an 18-5 run, extending their lead to 20 as the Lakers remained ice cold and faced a huge uphill battle to get back in it.

Doncic wasn’t ready to give up though as he was the one player in purple and gold that could score, getting the deficit down to 95-83 going into the fourth.

With Sacramento showing no signs of cooling off, Gabe Vincent hit a pair of triples early in the final quarter to try to keep up with them. After a pair of free throws by James, the Lakers were back within single digits.

That was as close as L.A. would get, however. DeRozan and Monk continued to pour it on while the Lakers just couldn’t get anything going offensively to go on a sustained run, resulting in the loss.

What’s next for the Lakers

The Lakers will return home and host the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday in the second night of a back-to-back before a matchup with the Charlotte Hornets on Thursday.

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During the game, the two exchanged words in which it looked as if Doncic challenged Schroder to swing at him and the Kings guard said he would see him in the back. Luka brushed it off, but around 40 minutes after the game ended, it was reported that Schroder did actually confront the Lakers in the hallways of the Crypto.com Arena and attempted to strike him, which is ultimately what led to the suspension.

Schroder has been quiet since news of the suspension came down, but he did take to Instagram and responded to a post about his suspension in which he seems to indicate that he didn’t just “attempt” to strike the Lakers star, via Legion Hoops on X:

Dennis Schroder on IG pic.twitter.com/FFlR20dznM

— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) January 11, 2026

Schroder may not have outright said that he hit Doncic, but that caption with the emojis after are very strongly implying that he did more than just try and strike the Lakers star. Perhaps he did succeed in striking Luka, though there was never any obvious damage shown on Doncic’s face in the games he has played in since that incident occurred.

Doncic is well known as one of the biggest trash talkers in the NBA today and has never been one to shy away from a challenge on the court. Likewise, Schroder has long been someone known to get under other player’s skin so those two having heated verbal exchanges is no surprise. Luka reportedly made a comment about Schroder allegedly choosing not to sign an extension with the Lakers during his first stint with the team back in 2021 and the two also faced off during last summer’s EuroBasket tournament in which Schroder and Germany ended the run of Doncic and Slovenia.

Because of the suspension, Schroder won’t be in the building when the Kings host the Lakers on Monday, but the final meeting between these two teams on March 1 has suddenly become a date that many will look forward to in case the issues between the two international stars boil over.

JJ Redick discusses how Lakers will manage difficult upcoming schedule

Doncic doesn’t have time to focus on Schroder as the Lakers have an extremely difficult stretch coming up with five games in seven days, followed by an eight-game road trip. And head coach JJ Redick recently discussed how the Lakers must manage this tough upcoming slate.

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