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How Austin Reaves Trolled Luka Dončić for Coming One Point Shy of 50-Point Game

Dončić had the chance to record a 50-burger on Friday night, but he came in at 49 points, instead.

Brigid Kennedy

Doncic had 49 points on Friday night; Reaves had 25.
Doncic had 49 points on Friday night; Reaves had 25. / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
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Lakers guard Luka Dončić is off to a monster (and historic) start to his season after notching 92 points across his first two contests.

But teammate Austin Reaves is not impressed.

After Dončić came just shy of 50 points in Friday night's win over the Timberwolves—having missed the mark over a missed free throw before exiting the game—Reaves trolled the future Hall of Famer with a hilarious comment on Instagram.

"Make a free throw," Reaves wrote under Luka's most recent post, alongside a "face palm" emoji. Dončić replied: "Shut up."

Simple, but effective.

Reaves was also hilariously unimpressed with the point total while out on the court on Friday. As the rest of Dončić's teammates got up to applaud the guard for his performance once he exited the game, Reaves stayed seated. Luka then walked over and playfully roughed him up for a second.

The banter between the two teammates is now par for the course. Indeed, Dončić and Reaves have been really leaning into the teasing angle so far this season. Just last week, they traded playful barbs while speaking with reporters ahead of the opener vs. the Warriors.

Plus, even coach JJ Redick had to tease Luka a bit for missing 50 on Friday. At one point, when the guard was at 48 points with the Lakers up by 23 and 3:29 remaining, Redick scolded him for being just under the mark.

"I'm trying to get the guy 50, and yeah, I'd already given him three chances," Redick said, per ESPN. "I gave a fourth chance. He gets fouled, and then he blows that too."

Well, perhaps Luka will pull it off on Sunday night, when the Lakers play the Kings at 9 p.m. ET.

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Brigid Kennedy
BRIGID KENNEDY

Brigid Kennedy is a contributor to the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI in November 2024, she covered political news, sporting news and culture at TheWeek.com before moving to Livingetc, an interior design magazine. She is a graduate of Syracuse University, dual majoring in television, radio and film (from the Newhouse School of Public Communications) and marketing managment (from the Whitman School of Management). Offline, she enjoys going to the movies, reading and watching the Steelers.

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