{"id":165750,"date":"2025-11-05T12:14:26","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T17:14:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=165750"},"modified":"2025-11-05T12:14:26","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T17:14:26","slug":"lakers-two-way-nick-smith-jr-breakout-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/11\/05\/lakers-two-way-nick-smith-jr-breakout-performance\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers Two-Way Guard Turns Heads with Breakout Performance"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the <\/span>Lakers delivered a statement win<\/span><\/a> over the Portland Trail Blazers Monday, they did so thanks to their depth sans <\/span>LeBron James<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Luka Doncic<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Austin Reaves<\/span><\/a>. <\/span>Deandre Ayton<\/span><\/a> posted a <\/span>double double against his former team<\/span><\/a>, and <\/span>Rui Hachimura<\/span><\/a> tallied 28 points. But the influx of opportunities allowed another young player to shine: two-way guard <\/span>Nick Smith Jr.<\/span><\/a>, who has a golden chance to prove his worth as other backcourt players recover.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lakers Two-Way Guard Turns Heads with Breakout Performance<\/b><\/h2>\n

Nick Smith Jr.\u2019s \u201cFlu Game\u201d and Historic NIght<\/b><\/h3>\n

Despite <\/span>battling an illness<\/span><\/a>, Smith Jr. put up 25 points in 27 minutes against Portland. Including <\/span>ten in the fourth quarter<\/span><\/a>. He shot 10-15 from the field and 5-6 from deep, tallying six assists and a steal along the way.<\/span><\/p>\n

The 21-year-old\u2019s performance also gave him a spot in the record books, as he became the <\/span>youngest Laker ever<\/span><\/a> to record 25+ points without attempting a single free-throw.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Nov
Nov 3, 2025; Portland, Oregon, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Nick Smith Jr. (20) drives to the basket during the second half against Portland Trail Blazers guard Jrue Holiday (5) at Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Wayrynen-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a <\/span>postgame interview<\/span><\/a> with Spectrum Sportsnet\u2019s Mike Trudell, Smith said there was \u201cno way\u201d he\u2019d miss Monday\u2019s game.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI just wanted to come out here with energy. Coach JJ and the coaching staff believe in me and believe in this group, no matter who we got. \u2026 Just come out here and compete and win, and I feel like we did that [Monday] and we gotta keep it going.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Smith Jr., who <\/span>signed a two-way deal<\/span><\/a> on Sept. 29, said his performance was a \u201cbig one\u201d for him.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy teammates [have] definitely done a good job of leading me in the right direction,\u201d he added. \u201cI\u2019m learning a lot, man, and I\u2019m just happy to be here.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

His outburst even garnered praise from <\/span>Blazers<\/span><\/a> interim head coach Tiago Splitter, who <\/span>told reporters<\/span><\/a> that Smith \u201c<\/span>just changed the whole pace. We could not guard him.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

What to Expect From Smith Jr.<\/b><\/h3>\n

Nick Smith Jr. showed a wide arsenal of scoring moves, finding the bottom of the net from all three levels while operating well within the flow of the offense. His ability to shoot and distribute can be a game-changer for the team\u2019s bench as it deals with the absence of <\/span>Gabe Vincent<\/span><\/a> (left ankle sprain).<\/span><\/p>\n

If Smith maintains this solid production in the short term\u2014and stays just as effective when the team is fully healthy\u2014he might have a shot at filling the Lakers\u2019 15th roster spot <\/span>once the opportunity comes in mid-January<\/span><\/a>. The team has been no stranger to promoting G League talent, giving <\/span>Jordan Goodwin<\/span><\/a> a <\/span>standard deal toward the end of last season<\/span><\/a>. Nick Smith Jr. could be the Lakers\u2019 latest success story if all goes well with his development this year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lakers Injury Report vs. San Antonio Spurs<\/b><\/h3>\n

The Lakers\u2019 reserves will once again be counted on against the Spurs tonight (10 p.m. ET\/7 p.m. PT on ESPN), even with Doncic\u2019s return. <\/span>At the time of writing<\/span><\/a>, James (sciatica), Vincent, <\/span>Maxi Kleber<\/span><\/a> (abdominal muscle strain) and <\/span>Adou Thiero<\/span><\/a> (left knee surgery recovery) are out. Reaves (right groin soreness) is listed as questionable, while <\/span>Jaxson Hayes<\/span><\/a> (right ankle sprain) is probable.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nick Smith Jr. has begun to prove himself to the Laker faithful, and he\u2019ll have another opportunity to make a memorable impression and be a name they won\u2019t soon forget.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 Troy Wayrynen-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the Lakers delivered a statement win over the Portland Trail Blazers Monday, they did so thanks to their depth sans LeBron James, Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves. Deandre Ayton posted a double double against his former team, and Rui Hachimura tallied 28 points. But the influx of opportunities allowed another young player to shine: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4265,"featured_media":165755,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,26,62,3],"tags":[4556,2279,38,1133,1332],"class_list":["post-165750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-lakers","category-nba","category-news","tag-austin-reaves","tag-jj-redick","tag-lebron-james","tag-luka-doncic","tag-nba-g-league"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165750"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165750\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":165760,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165750\/revisions\/165760"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}