Lakers superstar LeBron James had over a week to reflect on his team’s 2025-26 season ending with a four-game sweep to the Thunder in the Western Conference semifinals.
It was just the fourth time in James’ career – and the earliest in the playoffs – a team that had him on the roster was swept in James’ 19 appearances in the postseason.
How James saw it, the Lakers didn’t lose the series to the defending NBA champions because they didn’t match the Thunder’s physicality. Or weren’t prepared.
They simply didn’t match the Thunder in talent.
“I have the passion and the [aspiration] to host the Larry O’Brien Trophy up every single year, but also have a realization of what particular team I have been a part of in that particular year,” James said during the latest episode of his “Mind The Game” podcast, which he co-hosts with NBA legend Steve Nash. “And understanding this year, we fought and we played to the maximum ability of our team. But ultimately, if we’re being completely honest, we were out-talented.”
The Thunder were without 2025 All-Star and All-NBA third team honoree Jalen Williams during the second round matchup.
But the Lakers had an even more significant absence: superstar guard Luka Doncic missed the Lakers’ entire postseason run because of a left hamstring strain he suffered April 2 in Oklahoma City.
Doncic was the NBA’s scoring champion for the second time and three seasons, averaging 33.5 points during the regular season.
He finished fourth in the voting for league MVP, which Shai Gilgeous-Alexander won for the second consecutive season, and will likely be an All-NBA first team honoree for the sixth time in his eight-season NBA career.
“We were not outworked,” James said. “They didn’t out-physical us. They didn’t outsmart us. I feel like we were just out-talent[ed] by OKC. At the end of the day, we failed in talent. OKC just possessed so much more talent than us. You could tip your cap to them in understanding that.”
With Doncic sidelined and star guard Austin Reaves out for the Lakers’ first four games of the playoffs because of a strained oblique, James led the Lakers to a six-game first round playoff series victory over the Rockets.
The Rockets were without their leading scorer, Kevin Durant, for five of the six games in the series.
James averaged 23.2 points, 8.3 assists, 7.2 rebounds and 1.3 steals in the first round against the Rockets.
“For our team to win a playoff series, that was a huge accomplishment,” James said. “Obviously my aspirations [are] much bigger than just one playoff series. I’ve won a lot of playoff series and one is never enough. But under the circumstances of what our team went through and what we were going through at that time: AR did come back and was able to play some good basketball like the last few games, but he was still trying to find his rhythm. Obviously, we never got Luka back.
“But for our ball club, under the circumstances that it was in, to win a playoff series in the Western Conference, I give a lot of respect and a lot of kudos to our guys and to our coaching staff of mentally, physically preparing us for that matchup. It was a pretty good season.”
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