The Golden State Warriors have suffered one of their most disappointing losses of the season, falling 129-101 to the Los Angeles Lakers in a blowout defeat at Chase Center on Saturday night.
The one-sided game did allow the Warriors to unveil their latest signing, with two-way contracted wing Nate Williams seeing his first minutes with the franchise during the third-quarter.
Nate Williams makes Warriors debut in disastrous blowout loss
After dropping 26 points and five assists in Friday's G League outing for Santa Cruz, Williams wound up playing nearly 15 minutes in his first NBA game with Golden State after signing with the franchise coming out of the All-Star break.
Williams had a couple of point-blank layups at the rim in the second-half, while also drilling a corner 3-pointer to finish with seven points, one rebound and two assists on 3-of-5 shooting from the floor in the 28-point loss.
The Warriors lacked intensity from the outset, immediately falling behind 10-2 and never recovering as the Lakers built an 18-point lead by half-time. The feast or famine shooting numbers over recent games continued, with Golden State struggling to connect beyond the arc in going just 12-of-44 (27.3%).
In contrast, the Lakers had arguably their hottest 3-point shooting night of the season, going 19-of-41 (46.3%) from downtown. LeBron James got things cooking by going 4-of-4 from three by early in the second-quarter, while Luka Doncic provided his own barrage of deep jumpers in the third-quarter to finish with a game-high 26 points to go with six rebounds and eight assists.
The Lakers shot 53.3% from the floor overall as the Warriors struggled to bring the defensive intensity and effort that's had to be a hallmark of their game in the absence of Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler and Kristaps Porzingis.
Gui Santos leads Warriors in scoring after contract extension
It was already a big day for Gui Santos who was rewarded for his recent development with a new three-year, $15 million contract. The Brazilian forward capped off a life-changing few hours by posting a team-high 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting, while also adding four rebounds and two assists.
Santos was one of only four Golden State players to reach double figures in scoring, with Moses Moody (12), Gary Payton II (12) and De'Anthony Melton (10) also leading what was an underwhelming offensive performance.
The Warriors will get a day off before setting their sights on bouncing back against the Los Angeles Clippers at home on Monday, with 2x All-Star guard Darius Garland expected to make his debut for the visitors after his departure from the Cleveland Cavaliers before the trade deadline.