Warriors thump Lakers in NBA season opener

LOS ANGELES — The Golden State Warriors emphatically signaled their intentions for the new NBA season on Tuesday, romping past Luka Doncic and the Los Angeles Lakers 119-109 in a clash of Western Conference rivals.

Jimmy Butler scored 31 points, Stephen Curry added 23 and the Warriors broke open a close game with an 18-4 run to start the third quarter and never looked back.

Golden State withstood a 43-point performance from Doncic. The Slovenian star, acquired in a blockbuster trade last February, added 12 rebounds and nine assists.

It wasn't enough, and Lakers superstar LeBron James could only watch from the sideline.

James, entering an unprecedented 23rd season, was sidelined for the first opening night of his career as he deals with sciatica.

"It's always different when he's not there," Warriors veteran Draymond Green said. "Obviously, we've had battles with Luka. Luka is an incredible player, but Bron is Bron."

The NBA's all-time leading scorer, chasing a fifth title, likely won't be available before November, and, after Tuesday's performance, it looked as if the four-time champion's season debut can't come soon enough for the Lakers.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr said Butler's performance — which included a perfect 16 for 16 from the free throw line — was key, and just what the Warriors were looking for when they acquired him last February.

"He really complements Steph and Draymond as well," Kerr said. "Not only the free throws, but the ball security. We've been a high turnover team for a long time. We need his ability to settle down.

"And when you get to the line like that, it puts a ton of pressure on your opponent."

The Warriors emerged from a tight first quarter with a 28-22 lead. Butler led the way with 12 points.

Green was slapped with his first technical foul of the season midway through the first quarter for chirping at officials from the bench.

Curry scored just three points in the first quarter, but came up with three steals as the Lakers turned the ball over nine times.

The Warriors pushed their lead to as wide as 10 points in the third, but the Lakers clawed back, taking a one-point lead after a pair of three-pointers from Rui Hachimura to energize the Crypto.com Arena crowd.

They went up 54-53 on a three-pointer by Doncic, before Butler closed the first half with a pair of free throws to make it 55-54 to the Warriors at the break. Golden State then had all the answers in the second half.

"It's good to get a win to start the season," Green said, but added that with a long campaign ahead "it doesn't really mean much".

"We were fighting upstream most of last year, and we don't want to do that this year. So it's important to get off to a good start."

Record 135 int'l players

A record 135 players born outside the United States were on opening-night rosters, the NBA said on Tuesday, with 43 countries represented across six continents.

It marked the 12th consecutive year that the league's opening-night rosters have featured at least 100 international players.

The previous record for international players was 125 at the start of the 2023-24 season.

For a 12th consecutive season, Canada is the most-represented country outside the US with 23 players, a group headlined by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who led the Oklahoma City Thunder to the NBA title in June.

France has 19 players, followed by Australia (13), Germany (7) and Serbia (6).

The Atlanta Hawks feature a record-tying 10 international players, followed by the Portland Trail Blazers and Golden State Warriors with seven apiece.

The NBA said there were a record 71 European players on opening-night rosters, a group that includes Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece), Nikola Jokic (Serbia), Doncic (Slovenia) and Victor Wembanyama (France).

The NBA is staging three regular-season games outside of the US and Canada this season as part of the league's push to grow the game globally.

Agencies