LeBron James: Lakers Know What Thunder Are Capable Of

The Los Angeles Lakers were annihilated by the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night, losing 139-96 in a game where they never even looked to be in the same league as their opponent. Austin Reaves and LeBron James led the way with 15 and 13 points, respectively, showing the kind of offensive night it was for the Lakers.

L.A. also lost Luka Doncic to a Grade 2 left hamstring strain. But even with a healthy Doncic, it was clear from this game that the Lakers aren’t ready to compete with the Thunder. James hinted at that in his postgame commentary.

“Obviously our mindset should be about Dallas and not OKC, that’s our next matchup and then we’ll get to them. But yeah, we understand and know what they’re capable of,” James said on Spectrum SportsNet. “They beat the s— out of us tonight, obviously from the start. So when we get to that point, we’ll address that. But we have another game on this road trip.”

James broke down exactly what makes them have such a hard time with the Thunder, and his answer came down largely to roster make-up and construction.

“They have multiple wing defenders, multiple guys that can get up in the ball,” he said. “They try to speed you up as much as they can, they got great hands, great length. It’s hard versus a team like that when you’re giving them pick-sixes. I think we had eight turnovers for 14 points in the first six-seven minutes of the game. That’s the game right there.”

The Lakers hadn’t played a top defense like the Thunder in their previous four games, and that — James believes — was part of why they started off especially poorly.

“Sometimes it takes a little bit to get adjusted when you haven’t played a team like that in a while. But we’ve had some teams that put pressure on you, not to that capacity that have so many, and they were still without [Alex Caruso] as well, another one of those pesky wing defenders that can heckle the ball. They did a great job obviously, they’re the defending champs. We expected nothing less, we just didn’t combat that.”

This is not the first time that James has commented on the gap between the Lakers and the Thunder. He did so in even clearer terms during their last meeting in February, saying the Thunder are a championship team and the Lakers are not.

The only way these two teams can meet in the playoffs is if they do so in the Western Conference Finals, given their current seeding. Hopefully, they can figure out something to stay competitive if that ultimately does happen.

LeBron James’ role could change

With Doncic forced to miss time with his hamstring injury, it will create a massive adjustment for the entire Lakers roster, but specifically James.

He knows that his role will likely change again if Doncic is out, even if conversations haven’t explicitly happened yet.