LeBron James’ feat with LA will alert the Thunder
The The Los Angeles Lakers are on the move lately, winners of all three games by lebron james made his season debut last week. James has taken on more of a supporting role since returning to the lineup, but it has paid dividends so far for Los Angeles, which is currently 13-4 this season.
James was most impressive in the team’s recent win over the Los Angeles Clippers at home, posting 25 points with six rebounds and six assists in that win, per Statmus, and increasing the scoring when his team needed him the most.
Of course, the Lakers still aren’t without their skeptics, who see them as several tiers below the Oklahoma City Thunder, who won the NBA championship last year and are off to an 18-1 start in 2025-26. Recently, the Lakers were blown out by the Thunder, made even more embarrassing by the fact that Oklahoma City was in that game for the second night in a row.
While James, who has yet to return to the lineup for that game, would certainly help offset some of Oklahoma City’s ability to fence off the driving lanes, the Lakers would still appear to be at a significant talent deficit, especially on the defensive end, against the Thunder.
Los Angeles doesn’t have many, if any, legitimate two-way players on the roster right now. Austin Reeves and Luka Doncic both started an elite offensive, but they are far from stoppers on the defensive side of the floor. Marcus Smart and Jared Vanderbilt are both elite defenders, but are sporadic at best on offense. Rui Hachimura has also seen his defensive reputation take a significant hit since joining Los Angeles.
In this case, the Lakers are probably still a long way from truly competing with a Thunder team that has two-way players at every roster position, and even then, it would only be a shot.
2025-11-27 20:33:00
