Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
ESPN analyst Shannon Sharpe made a bold declaration on Monday, claiming that the Los Angeles Lakers would beat the Oklahoma City Thunder in five games in a potential playoff series.
The Lakers are coming off an impressive double-digit win over the Denver Nuggets on Saturday night, and star guard Luka Doncic had by far his best game since joining the franchise.
Doncic finished with 32 points on 10-of-22 shooting from the field, 10 rebounds, seven assists and four steals for Los Angeles. After starting his Lakers tenure on a minutes limit, Doncic played over 30 minutes for Los Angeles on Saturday.
With the Lakers’ win on Saturday and the Memphis Grizzlies losing to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday, Los Angeles is now just two games back of the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference.
Oklahoma City – the No. 1 seed in the West – has a 9.5-game lead on the No. 2-seeded Grizzlies after beating the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday night.
Sharpe is clearly confident in the Lakers now that they have Doncic in the fold, and Los Angeles should have one of the best offenses in the league with Doncic, LeBron James and Austin Reaves leading the way.
However, the Lakers haven’t been nearly as dominant as the Thunder, who have won 46 of their first 56 games in the 2024-25 season. If the standings remain where they are today, the Lakers’ first chance to play the Thunder would be in the second round of the playoffs.
Last season, OKC was knocked out by the Dallas Mavericks in the second round despite having the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.
While the Lakers didn’t make it past the first round of the playoffs last season, they have a very different look now that Doncic is on the roster and Anthony Davis is in Dallas.
Los Angeles will look to fine-tune its play over the final weeks of the regular season to gear up for a deep playoff run. The Lakers made the Western Conference Finals in the 2022-23 season, but they haven’t made a run to the NBA Finals since the 2019-20 season.
Hopefully for Lakers fans, Doncic will be the spark the team needs to hang yet another banner in the rafters at Crypto.com Arena.
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