Los Angeles Lakers legend Magic Johnson shared an honest take on social media about the Western Conference following Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder.
“I hate to break the news to the rest of the Western Conference, but they may not have a chance to win the Western Conference Finals for the next 5-7 years,” Johnson wrote on X. “The Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs are just that good! They are talented, deep, athletic and both teams are well coached.”
The Thunder and Spurs played an extremely close Game 1 on Monday, with San Antonio winning in double overtime. It’s pretty clear that the two teams – who each won over 60 games in the regular season – are well ahead of the rest of the competition in the West, if not the entire NBA.
That’s bad news for the Lakers, as they likely will have to go through one – if not both – of these teams in the future to reach an NBA Finals. Even though the Lakers have a new cornerstone in Luka Doncic to lead their franchise for the foreseeable future, the Thunder and Spurs are loaded with young star talent.
OKC swept the Lakers in the second round of the playoffs this season (Doncic did miss the series with a hamstring injury), and it had not lost a playoff game in 2026 until Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals.
Meanwhile, the Spurs have rising stars like Victor Wembanyama (third season in the NBA), Stephon Castle (second season in the NBA) and Dylan Harper (a rookie). All three players were awesome in Game 1 on Monday, with Wembanyama (41 points and 24 rebounds) leading the way. That’s without even mentioning 28-year-old All-Star De’Aaron Fox, who missed Game 1.
The Spurs and Thunder are both set up to contend for titles for years to come, and Oklahoma City already won the 2025 NBA Finals with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams leading the way. All three of those players are locked into long-term deals with the Thunder.
The bar for the Lakers to clear in the West is extremely high, but they do have a chance to improve their roster this offseason. They are set to have several unrestricted free agents, including LeBron James, which could help them open up cap space to add to the team.
Plus, Los Angeles was the No. 4 seed in the West and won a playoff series in the 2025-26 campaign even though Doncic missed the entire playoff run.
Johnson may be worried about other teams in the West competing, but as long as Doncic is healthy, the Lakers have one of the best players in the league to go and challenge the Spurs and Thunder.
