The Lakers are one playoff defeat from their season being over and from the conversation turning to LeBron James’ future.
They are in a hole no team has climbed out of in the history of the NBA, the Lakers’ 131-108 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 3 putting L.A. down 3-0 in the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series.
Game 4 is Monday night here in Los Angeles, a night the Lakers will try to stave off elimination and a night that will determine how the conversations will go with James if they lose.
As James sat at his locker with both knees wrapped in ice, after he had scored 19 points on seven-for-19 shooting, two-for-six on three-pointers, handed out eight assists and grabbed six rebounds, he was asked if this group of Lakers should acknowledge that a loss Monday night could be their last time playing together as currently constructed.
“No, you really don’t talk about that,” Jame said. “You focus on the moment at hand and go from there.”
James and his teammates gave a gallant effort Saturday night at Crypto.com Arena, but the defending champion proved to be more than the Lakers could handle.
Lakers forward LeBron James shows frustration as Thunder center Chet Holmgren slam dunks during Game 3 on Saturday night.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
James finished his night with 19 points on seven-for-19 shooting, eight assists and six rebounds. Rui Hachimura had 21 points and Austin Reaves finished with 17 points and nine assists.
The Lakers are fully aware that no NBA team has successfully come back from a 3-0 deficit in the playoffs, with those teams holding a 161-0 record. Only four teams have forced a Game 7 after trailing 3-0, all of which ultimately lost the series, including the Boston Celtics in 2023.
The Lakers have now lost all three games by double-digits, the 23-point defeat Saturday being the most lopsided of them all. They have lost the three games by an average of 19.6 points per game.
James was asked what kind of effort it will take for the Lakers to beat the heavily favored Thunder.
“I mean, obviously we gotta [give] everything … ” James said. “I mean, everything and more.”
James has been frequently asked this season about retirement, but he has not given any indication of what the future holds for him,
He’s 41 years old and playing in an NBA-record 23rd season.
James is in the final year of his contract that pays him $52 million, making him a free agent this offseason. He can retire, join another team or perhaps return to the Lakers next season.
“I wouldn’t say I’m angry or disappointed,” James said. “I mean, obviously you’re disappointed in the simple fact of, like, being down 3-0, obviously. But, I mean, we still got life and that’s all you can ask for. And we gotta be much better on Monday. See what happens.”
The Lakers will see the same Thunder team that had seven players score in double figures, led by Ajay Mitchell’s 24 points and 10 assists and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s 23 points and nine assists.
Oklahoma City shot 56.% from the field and 44.7 percent from three-point range. They will still see a Thunder team that forced them into 17 turnovers and took advantage of that to score 30 points off those miscues.
“Typically, if you can poke holes at a team in a playoff series, there’s a good chance they might have, like, a temporary solution or can sort of adjust maybe a little bit,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “This team, in-game, because of their personnel, can just adjust like that. They need shooting on the floor — great. They need multiple wing defenders on the floor — great. They need two bigs on the floor — great.
“It’s just … they’re a terrific basketball team. I said that before the series. I’ve been very impressed with them. Still think we can beat them, but we gotta be better.”
Los Angeles, CA – May 09: Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) is tightly covered by Los Angeles Lakers guard Marcus Smart (36) in game three of the second round of the NBA playoffs in Los Angeles, CA on Saturday, May 9, 2026. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
The Lakers went down 13 in the third quarter and had to play catchup the rest of the way. They never the deficit just kept growing, topping out at 27 points in the fourth quarter.
They once again lost the game in the third quarter, getting outscored 33-20. The Lakers didn’t take care of the basketball in the third, turning it over six times, and they didn’t play good defense, allowing the Thunder to shoot 59.1% from the field and 55.6 percent from three-point range.
“You come and compete,” Reaves said. “Its a bunch of guys in this locker room that are competitors. And basically the message after the game was, ‘We’re going to come in here Monday and we’re going get a win.’
“Obviously this situation sucks, but that doesn’t give us the license to quit. We got to come in here and compete. We owe the organization that. We owe each other that. We owe our fans that. So, we’re going to come here on Monday and play as hard as we can.”
