Grading every Lakers player’s performance from the team’s 123-118 win over the Spurs

Friday was a bit of mixed feelings for the Lakers as they earned a 123-118 win over the Spurs.

First, the positives: the Lakers earned a win on the second night of a back-to-back, LeBron James returned to the court and looked great and Anthony Davis didn’t need to play in the fourth quarter to earn the win. With a playoff push forming, any win is a good win.

At the same time, the Lakers have made a habit of taking comfortable wins and making them still feel underwhelming. The final score is not indicative of how the Lakers controlled the game when LeBron exited, but it’s not the first time they’ve had a deceiving scoreline in a win.

Does it matter? Probably not. But there is a notable difference walking off the court with a 15-point win versus a 5-point win, no matter how comfortable a victory it was.

It’s also impossible to talk about this game and not talk about Victor Wembanyama. LeBron said it best postgame, honestly.

We obviously don’t grade the opponents but that was an A-plus game. A 5×5 from a rookie one night after finishing an assist shy of a 5×5 is unfathomably good. Wemby is legit and the real deal.

So, let’s grade the win. As always, grades are based on expectations for each player. A “B” grade represents the average performance for that player.

Rui Hachimura

32 minutes, 17 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 block, 7-11 FG, 3-4 3PT, +2

After a pretty miserable game against the Warriors, Rui had a nice bounceback performance on Friday. He was far more aggressive, which is a key for him regardless of if his shot is falling or not. Give me a version of Rui getting to the rim and bullying smaller defenders and I’ll take it, regardless of what the final stat line ends up.

Grade: A-

LeBron James

34 minutes, 30 points, 7 rebounds, 9 assists, 1 steal, 13-22 FG, 2-3 3PT, 2-2 FT, +21

The last real NBA action for LeBron came before Valentine’s Day, but you wouldn’t have known it at all. He said his ankle was “so-so” postgame, but it looked fine to me.

It’s obvious his health is paramount to the ceiling of this team. Keep your fingers crossed and rub your lucky rabbit’s foot the rest of the season.

Grade: A

Anthony Davis

29 minutes, 28 points, 13 rebounds, 1 steal, 10-14 FG, 0-1 3PT, 8-10 FT, +10

Just a casually dominant performance from AD in under 30 minutes. In two games against Wemby and the Spurs this year, AD has 65 points, 23 rebounds and five steals and is shooting 23-37 from the field in 66 minutes.

Having him play just 29 minutes and sitting the whole fourth quarter isn’t a small thing, either. With a huge match-up against the Suns on Sunday, giving him the most rest possible was a win on Friday.

Grade: A

Austin Reaves

33 minutes, 10 points, 5 rebounds, 9 assists, 2 blocks, 4-12 FG, 2-5 3PT, +1

A big oof of a performance from Reaves in this one. He really, really struggled with his shot on Friday after being really efficient on Thursday.

What surprised me in looking at his box score postgame was how much he contributed elsewhere. He tied for the team lead in assists and rebounds.

I’ve seen the recent comments about his defense and not accounting for that in the grade. In reality, I am, because I’ve just accepted that he’s not going to be good on that end of the floor. The paragraph right before the grades says it’s based on expectations for the players.

I don’t expect Reaves to be good defensively and even then there are some night where it’s just too bad to ignore, like against the Warriors. I do expect him to be good offensively as a scorer, though.

Grade: C-

D’Angelo Russell

35 minutes, 22 points, 3 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal, 8-18 FG, 3-7 3PT, 3-3 FT, -3

It’s interesting how two relatively similar stat lines can have vastly different feels to them. I thought D’Lo played pretty well on Friday, even if it was roughly the same stat line as he had against the Warriors.

Perhaps it was a better taste in the mouth after a win, perhaps it was a box score not being able to tell the whole story. Either way, it was a good effort from him.

Grade: B

Spencer Dinwiddie

24 minutes, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 0-6 FG, 0-3 3PT, +21

It’s still pretty early in the Dinwiddie Era, but so far, I’m not feeling it. That’s not to say things can’t change — I wasn’t feeling Max Christie or Jaxson Hayes at times this season, too — but outside of moving Reaves out of a primary ball-handler role, there haven’t been a whole lot of positives from him so far.

Coming in around the All-Star break is tough and I’ll certainly give him some more time, but the production needs to come statistically from him soon. After Friday, he’s 8-24 from the field and 3-12 from the 3-point line in four games with the Lakers.

Grade: F

Taurean Prince

18 minutes, 5 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 2-6 FG, 1-3 3PT, 0-1 FT, +1

While Prince has largely been good coming off the bench, Friday wasn’t really one of those nights. The good thing about having him come off the bench, though, is that it’s much easier to cut his minutes than it is as a starter.

Grade: D

Max Christie

13 minutes, 3 points, 2 rebounds, 1-1 FG, 1-2 FT, -11

Not a great night for Christie after a so-so showing against Golden State. With Cam Reddish nearing a return, it’s a lot easier to take Christie out of the rotation again after these two games.

Grade; D

Jaxson Hayes

19 minutes, 8 points, 4 rebounds, 1 steal, 4-5 FG, 0-1 3PT, -5

The only field goal attempt Jaxson Hayes didn’t dunk on Friday was the wild 3-pointer he threw up at the end of the game in garbage time. This version of Hayes — an uber-athletic, high-energy big — is exactly what the Lakers needed and likely hoped Hayes would be from the jump.

Better late than never, I guess?

Grade: B

Dylan Windler, Maxwell Lewis, Jalen Hood-Schifino

A whole 36 seconds of garbage time isn’t getting a grade from me.

Darvin Ham

It was certainly a risk not to play AD in the fourth quarter, but it was calculated one that I thought was worth the gamble. That it worked is, obviously, even better.

Grade: A-

Friday’s inactives: Jarred Vanderbilt, Christian Wood, Colin Castleton, Gabe Vincent, Cam Reddish, Skylar Mays