Jan. 16, 2026, 12:37 a.m. PT

After an impressive and easy 141-116 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday, the Los Angeles Lakers hosted the Charlotte Hornets on Thursday. The Hornets came into this game with a 14-26 record, and thus, many probably assumed that another win was coming for the Lakers.

Instead, it turned into another unacceptable and even embarrassing outing.

Much as they did on Tuesday versus the Atlanta Hawks, the Lakers got off to a fast start on Thursday. They led by as many as 13 points in the first quarter, but they then went cold in the second quarter and fell behind 77-62 early in the third period. Los Angeles had lots of trouble stopping the Hornets from scoring near the rim, and rebounding was a problem as well.

The team couldn’t solve any of its woes in time to make a real run, as it fell to the Hornets, 135-117.

L.A. allowed the Hornets to shoot 54.3% overall and 46.5% from 3-point range, and it was outrebounded 50-35. Former All-Star guard LaMelo Ball went off for 30 points on 10-of-20 field-goal shooting and 9-of-17 from 3-point range while dishing off 11 assists.

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The Lakers will head north to play the Portland Trail Blazers, another sub-.500 team that will be tougher than its record may suggest, on Saturday, before returning home to face the Toronto Raptors on Sunday. They will then start an eight-game road trip on Tuesday.

Marcus Smart: D

Smart wasn’t effective enough offensively, nor did he do enough to slow down the Hornets on the defensive end. He finished with 10 points on 3-of-9 shooting from the field and 1-of-5 from 3-point land, four rebounds, three assists and two steals in 32 minutes.

Jake LaRavia: B-plus

LaRavia could’ve done more defensively, just like most, if not all, of his teammates, but offensively, he clearly did enough. He made five of his 10 shot attempts, three of his four 3-point tries and all five of his free throw attempts to score 18 points, making him the Lakers’ third-leading scorer in this game. He also had three rebounds, three assists and two steals in 37 minutes.

Deandre Ayton: C

The Lakers didn’t get Ayton the basketball often enough in this game, and as a result, he didn’t give them enough production. In 32 minutes, he went 6-of-10 from the field and scored 12 points while adding six rebounds, one assist, one steal and one block.

LeBron James: A

James had yet another superstar-type game at age 41 despite having a somewhat quiet first half. He scored 29 points on 10-of-19 overall shooting, 3-of-6 from downtown and 6-of-7 from the free throw line, to go along with nine rebounds, six assists, two steals and one block. Nineteen of his 29 points came in the second half as he tried to engineer a comeback, but to no avail.

Luka Doncic: A-minus

Doncic had 19 points in the first quarter, but he took only one shot and went scoreless in the second quarter. He continued his offensive onslaught with 15 points in the third quarter, and he finished with 39 points on 15-of-26 shooting from the field and 6-of-11 from beyond the arc.

The rest of his game, however, was lacking. He made just three of his seven free throw attempts, and he only had three rebounds and four assists in 36 minutes.

Rui Hachimura: D

In his second game back from a calf injury, Hachimura barely contributed. He got 18 minutes of playing time off the bench and made one of his four shot attempts, giving him three points, plus one rebound, one assist and one block.

Gabe Vincent: F

In 15 minutes, Vincent went 0-of-5 from downtown and missed all seven of his shot attempts, and he wasn’t able to provide enough resistance on the defensive end. He went scoreless and only had one rebound.

Jarred Vanderbilt: B

Vanderbilt helped out in solid fashion with five rebounds plus six points on 3-of-4 shooting in 15 minutes of playing time.

Kobe Bufkin: C

Bufkin came into this game with 3:42 left in the first quarter, and he ended up getting 17 minutes in all on the court. He got three rebounds and added one steal and one block, but he missed both of his shot attempts and went scoreless.

Nick Smith Jr., Dalton Knecht, Drew Timme, Bronny James: Incomplete

Each of these four players got exactly 1:30 of playing time. All of them went scoreless and made no positive statistical contributions.