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SAN FRANCISCO — The Lakers entered training camp with hopes of finally establishing chemistry between stars Luka Doncic, LeBron James and Austin Reaves. But the trio have yet to see the court together. On Sunday, they all stayed on the bench during the Lakers’ 111-103 loss to the Golden State Warriors at Chase Center.

With Doncic (rest) and James (glute) already out, Reaves was rested Sunday after an already full first week of training camp. The fifth-year guard had the highest workload on the team entering the first preseason game that took place after three days of practice. He scored 20 points against the Phoenix Suns as one of the few offensive bright spots in Friday’s blowout loss.

Without their top offensive playmakers, the Lakers got a lift from guard Gabe Vincent, who made his preseason debut after nursing a knee injury. He had 16 points and five assists while center Deandre Ayton, who scored just one point on two shots in Friday’s preseason game, scored seven points, all in the first quarter, with seven rebounds.

“We came with more intention,” Vincent said compared to the Lakers’ 103-81 loss to the Suns on Friday. “We were more focused. Obviously it’s different with those three not playing. They’re a huge part of our team and everything that we do. But next man up.”

After their first two preseason games, the Lakers have one week of practice until their first home preseason game against the Warriors on Oct. 12. Coach JJ Redick said that although Doncic was scheduled to rest for the first two preseason games after he played in EuroBasket with his national team, the Slovenian superstar is still expected to play before the team officially opens its season on Oct. 21. The Lakers have four preseason games remaining.

Whether James, who was held out of early training camp practices because of nerve irritation in his glute, will play in the preseason remains to be seen. Entering an unprecedented 23rd NBA season, James is on a slower ramp-up schedule than previous years, Redick said.

The Warriors took a similarly cautious approach with their aging superstars as Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Jimmy Butler III and Al Horford were all limited to one half. The 37-year-old Curry still scored 14 points in 15 minutes, draining five of seven shots from the field and drawing loud cheers from a nearly full Chase Center crowd when he laid up an acrobatic shot through contact and pointed two finger guns into the ESPN baseline camera.

Redick called it a challenge to get a proper evaluation of his team in a 48-minute preseason game when his top three stars are out, but after Friday’s preseason opener, he was looking for better organization on offense early in the shot clock, playing with pace and more physicality.

“We’ve got to be more physical getting open,” Redick said before the game. “We’ve got to be more physical with our screening. That doesn’t change based on who’s in the lineup, so that habit, we can build that.”

“Championship habits” is one of three pillars Redick has preached relentlessly during training camp, along with championship communication and championship shape. He said he would judge the latter in part by whether players are sprinting back on defense.

The Lakers were outscored 23-5 in transition Sunday and 42-11 through two preseason games.

With the exception of a 10-0 Warriors run to end the second quarter and a nearly six-minute stretch to begin the third quarter during which Golden State pushed a seven-point halftime lead into a 23-point rout, Redick said the overall competitiveness was “much better” than against Phoenix. But the next challenge will be to put forth that effort consistently.

It follows a recent theme Redick introduced to the team: Kaizen, the Japanese word for improvement.

“It’s just getting 1% better each day,” said forward Jake LaRavia, who had 10 points and three assists. “And that goes along with just winning the day. We thought when we played Phoenix, we didn’t. Today, we thought we did a good amount better, obviously, still not the result that we wanted, but we’re working in the right direction.”

SAN FRANCISCO — The Lakers rallied from a 14-point deficit in the third quarter, closing the three-game California Classic with a win over the San Antonio Spurs Tuesday night at Chase Center.

Lakers forward Darius Bazley led all players in scoring with 27 points on seven-for-nine shooting, hitting the game-sealing dunk. Bazley also grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds.

When asked what sparked the rally for the Lakers, Bazley responded, “Our defense, just turning up the intensity, turning up our physicality. Ultimately it was just our mindset, you just want to finish through.”

The Lakers stepped up with key defensive rebounds and stops down the stretch, with Bazley being the defensive focal point. He has been the team’s top defender statistically throughout summer league games.

“There’s a lot of dogs on this team, defensively.” Bazley said. “That’s a big point of emphasis that we had throughout training camp, leading up to now, going into Vegas. So it’s on our minds going into huddles, something that we constantly talk about.”

Dalton Knecht was also pivotal in the Lakers’ comeback win, scoring 25 points and collecting eight rebounds on 50% shooting, including four three-pointers.

Knecht went 0-for-nine from three-point range during his first two games of the California Classic.

“I finally found my rhythm. Took a while, took a couple games but I just stayed the course.” Knecht said reflecting on his performance, “All my teammates believed in me to go out and hit those shots. When I saw one fall I kept shooting and my teammates kept finding me.”

The Lakers got off to a slow start, shooting less than 40% in the first half, but they found their rhythm when it mattered.

“Every single one of us picked up full court and made life pretty hard, trying to run them out of their sets which we did a good job off especially down the stretch.” Knecht said discussing what raised the teams level defensively.

Bronny James, still working on getting his conditioning back to game level, played just over five minutes and scored two points.

Cole Swider, who tallied 15 points against the Spurs, was named to the 2025 All-California Classic team. Swider averaged 19.7 points, shooting 57.6% from the field, 47.6% from three and 91.7% from the free-throw line. Swider added five rebounds a game with a steal and a block in 28.7 minutes across three games.

The Lakers will travel to Las Vegas and will play the Dallas Mavericks, led by No. 1 draft pick Cooper Flagg, on Thursday.

SAN FRANCISCO — Bronny James made his 2025 summer league debut, scoring 10 points in 10 minutes during the Lakers’ win over the Miami Heat in the California Classic at the Chase Center on Sunday.

The Lakers led for most of the game, rolling to a 103-83 victory.

The Heat went on a 10-0 run to start the third quarter, but the Lakers responded with strong perimeter shooting to maintain a double-digit lead.

Cole Swider was the Lakers’ leading scorer for the second consecutive game, finishing with 20 points against the Heat. Swider shot seven of 10 from the field, including two of five from three-point range.

“We have to get back to defending how we did in the first half, I thought we did a great job,” Swider said. “They only had 38 points in the first half. They came out high, but we were able to weather the storm and win the third quarter, which was huge for us.”

James, who didn’t suit up for the Lakers’ loss to the Warriors on Saturday, was three-of-seven shooting and two-of-five from three-point range. He sat out the second half because of a minutes restriction for conditioning.

“It felt good, just getting out there for the first time this summer. I’m just trying to make a difference any way I can defensively and offensively,” James said. “… First wind was definitely tough. … Pretty much just trying to go out there have fun and not be so tired while I’m doing it.”

Bronny opened up the game with a steal and fast-break dunk to score the Lakers’ first points.

The Lakers shot 57.1% from the field and stepped up their perimeter defense while limiting the Heat to 14 free throws. Miami made just eight of 27 (29.6%) from beyond the three-point line.

Swider said as one of the veterans on the roster, he tries to provide support for younger players.

“This is my fourth year doing this thing, I think I might be the oldest guy on the roster,” he said. “Just giving these guys a game, trying to help Dalton [Knecht] as much as possible, trying to help Bronny as much as possible. Me and Bronny had a great stint together with the South Bay Lakers, so just trying to continue that chemistry and continuity.”

The Lakers get a day off before they play the San Antonio Spurs in the final game of the California Classic on Tuesday. Tipoff will be at 7 p.m. The team will then travel to Las Vegas for the remainder of its summer league schedule.