Austin Reaves Scores a Season-High 43 as the Lakers Beat the Pistons Without Luka Doncic

By The Arena Staff

DETROIT, Nov. 8, 2026 — The Lakers lost the NBA's leading scorer a few hours before tip-off. Austin Reaves made sure they barely noticed.

With Luka Doncic sidelined by lower-back tightness, Reaves scored a season-high 43 points on 14-of-27 shooting, made all 11 of his free throws and hit the shots that mattered late as Los Angeles held off the Detroit Pistons 121-116 on Sunday night at Little Caesars Arena.

Doncic came into the night averaging 40.1 points, the best mark in the league, and 45 points over his last four games, including 53 in Friday's win over Portland. Detroit came in ranked first in the NBA in defense, according to ESPN. None of that seemed to matter early. The Lakers jumped out to a 40-14 lead in the second quarter and were up 61-48 at halftime.

Reaves even borrowed a page from his absent teammate in the third quarter, banking in a step-back 3-pointer with 6:41 left that put the Lakers up 78-61. He shrugged in disbelief after it dropped.

"I didn't try to bank it in," Reaves said. "It went in, so it looks the same in the stat sheet."

The Pistons didn't go away. They closed the third quarter on an 11-0 run over the final 2:04 to cut it to 84-81, and with Reaves resting early in the fourth, Detroit got within a point three separate times. Cade Cunningham had a chance to tie it at 90 with 9:14 left but missed the second of two free throws.

Reaves came back and set up Ziaire Williams for a 3 that made it 100-96. Walker Kessler's three-point play pushed the lead to 107-99 with 2:15 to go, and Reaves hit an off-balance 3-pointer with 46 seconds left before closing it out at the line.

"Guys have to step up when someone's averaging 40," said Collin Sexton, who scored 17 off the bench. "You got to fill the shoes and be ready to impact winning. And I felt like we did that tonight, and AR picked those shoes up and he wore them."

Ziaire Williams also scored 17 off the bench, and Kessler had 12 points and 16 rebounds. Reserve Daniss Jenkins led Detroit with a career-high 31 points, Kevin Huerter added 24 and Cunningham finished with 14.

The Lakers (9-2) have won five straight and snapped a four-game losing streak against Detroit. They are 2-0 this season without Doncic, who has now missed two games, both because of back tightness and both in back-to-back situations, according to ESPN. Los Angeles plays at Atlanta on Monday night. The Pistons (6-3) lost back-to-back games for the first time this season.