The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Sacramento Kings, 101-86, at Golden 1 Center on Saturday evening.

Both teams started their respective seasons heading in opposite directions, with the LeBron James-led Lakers (6-6) surprisingly opening with an 0-3 mark and the previously lowly Kings demonstrating a level of offensive efficiency that surprised the rest of the league. However, each club appears to be slowly coming back to their expected mean, with Los Angeles now having won four out of their last five contests. Saturday, they jumped out to a 50-44 halftime lead with some strong first-half shooting. They were even sharper in the second half, outscoring the Kings (7-6) by a 51-42 margin on their way to a double-digit win. The Lakers limited Sacramento to 34.8 percent shooting and elicited 19 turnovers from them, and they also won the rebounding battle by a 59-50 margin.

James led the way with 25 points and added seven rebounds, two assists and one steal. Brandon Ingram provided 12 points, eight rebounds and two assists. Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Josh Hart contributed matching 11-point tallies. JaVale McGee supplied 10 points, eight rebounds, two blocks and one steal.

De'Aaron Fox paced the Kings with 21 points, a total he supplemented with seven rebounds, two assists, two steals and one block. Marvin Bagley III followed with a bench-leading 13 points. Buddy Hield and Willie Cauley-Stein had matching 12-point efforts, with the latter also hauling in 12 boards. Iman Shumpert and Nemanja Bjelica underwhelmed with seven and two points, respectively.

The Lakers head back home and take on the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday evening, while the Kings remain home and take on the San Antonio Spurs on Monday night.