Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves have reason to smile with as well as the Lakers are playing. William Liang / Imagn Images The Bounce Newsletter | This is The Athletic’s daily NBA newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Bounce directly in your inbox.

When Magic Johnson stepped into the Lakers' front office to take the reins as President of Basketball Operations in 2017, Larry Bird was unsurprisingly quizzed by the media for comments, given the history he has with Magic.

On Saturday night, the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Lakers played a thrilling game in California. The Lakers won by a score of 127-125 (in overtime). Austin Reaves led the team with 32 points, seven rebounds, six assists, one steal and one block while shooting 12/21 from the field and 3/8 from three-point range in 46 minutes of playing time.

With less than a month away from the 2026 NBA playoffs, here's where things stand

Austin Reaves executed a perfect missed free throw before sinking the game-tying bucket to force overtime, and Luka Doncic drained the winning jumper in the extra frame to lift the Lakers past the Nuggets on Saturday night.

-Kings-Clippers close the night on ESPN: It’s been a long haul for the Clippers to get to this point, but they’re finally above .500. They enter this matchup winning six of their last seven outings. Kawhi Leonard is averaging 28.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.0 steals per game. This marks the Lakers fifth straight victory.

Dwight Howard left the NBA years ago, but his basketball career officially ended on Thursday. That's when Howard took to social media to announce his retirement from a well-traveled basketball career most known for his superstar days with the Orlando Magic and his NBA championship in 2020 with the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Lakers' fifth win in a row required heroics from Austin Reaves just to force overtime, which is where Luka Doncic made the final shot of the game. The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Denver Nuggets 127-125 on Saturday night in one of the best,