Luka Dončić and LeBron James may get most of the credit, but the Lakers wouldn’t be serious contenders without Austin Reaves, too.

For the second night in a row, the Los Angeles Lakers had a pretty easy time of it as they put another notch in the win column by beating the San Antonio Spurs 125-109.

Luka Dončić nearly put up a triple-double with a line of 21 points, nine rebounds and 14 assists, but his 5/20 shooting made this one of the most inefficient games of his young Lakers career.

LeBron James was out again with a strained groin, which left much of the heavy lifting to Austin Reaves.

Just as he has for much of the season, the fourth-year shooting guard came through, this time with 30 points, seven rebounds and six assists while shooting 12/21 from the floor.

The Lakers needed it too, as they just recently came off a four-game losing streak.

Lakers fans are getting used to seeing Reaves be the best player on the court, whether LeBron or Luka is playing or not.

He’s been outstanding all year, but he’s really stepped up with LeBron out. This was his fourth straight game with 28 points or more, and he’s even ratcheted up his defense with eight steals during that period.

There’s been no bigger story in the NBA this year than the trade that sent Anthony Davis to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for Luka.

Hell, there may be no bigger NBA story ever in terms of shock value.

That trade tilted the league on its axis and instantly raised the Lakers’ ceiling, both this year and for the next decade, assuming of course that Luka signs an extension to stay in L.A.

Luka is one of the top five players in the NBA, and he just carried the Mavs to the NBA Finals last year. His arrival is an undeniably great thing for the purple and gold.

As we’ve seen in recent years though, one or two superstars are no longer enough to win a championship. LeBron and Anthony Davis found that out when they got bounced out of the postseason by the Denver Nuggets in each of the past two years.

The Boston Celtics won the title last year because they had a great team to complement Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

Jrue Holliday, Derrick White, Kristaps Porzingis were all major factors in bringing Boston its 18th ring, and in doing so they provided a blueprint for the rest of the league.

Oklahoma City has the MVP frontrunner in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Cleveland has Donovan Mitchell. Both teams have risen to the top of the NBA though because of their incredible depth and teamwork.

That’s what the Lakers are up against as they seek to tie the Celtics for the most championships in NBA history, so it’ll take much more than LeBron and Luka to do it.

Austin Reaves is the X-factor in the Lakers’ championship aspirations

There may be no more unsung hero in the league than Austin Reaves, nor one that’s more underpaid.

The former Oklahoma Sooner is in the second year of a four-year, $53.8 million deal.

That final year is a player option that he’ll almost certainly opt out of since he’ll be able to command so much more. Look at what other teams’ third options are being paid, and none of them are nearly as effective as Reaves.

Reaves is scoring 19.6 points per game, the best mark of his career. If he keeps up his current pace, he’ll be over 20 soon enough.

He’s one of only 22 players in the league to average at least six assists per game, and for a guard, he’s a willing rebounder with 4.5 per game.

Watching the Lakers play, it’s clear how much Reaves means to them. He keeps the ball moving and never lets the offense get bogged down.

He’s confident enough to pull the trigger on his own shot, but doesn’t do it at the expense of getting others involved.

He’s much more than just a shooter and has improved every year in the league at getting to the basket and finishing through contact.

Just as every middle school history student learns that the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the spark that ignited the powder keg that became World War I, Reaves’ growth as a playmaker is what precipitated this season’s dramatic turnaround.

His ability to steer the offense allowed head coach JJ Redick to move D’Angelo Russell to the bench, eventually clearing the way for him to be traded to Brooklyn.

That deal brought back Dorian Finney-Smith, and from that point forward, the Lakers’ defense has gone from being one of the worst in the league to one of the best.

Without that deal, who knows if the Luka-AD trade ever happens at all. So you see, in a roundabout way, Reaves has been the key to this whole season.

Reaves has kept the Lakers on track when LeBron has missed time, and he helped ease Luka’s transition onto the team by picking up the shooting slack as the former Mav struggled with his shot.

He’s also been extremely durable, playing in 60 of the Lakers’ 67 games at over 34 minutes per.

If the Lakers are going to navigate their way through the West, of course they’ll need a healthy and fully operational LeBron and Luka to do it.

Without Reaves though, they’d be just another team. With him, they can go toe-to-toe with anybody.