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Kendrick Perkins: No One in the West Can Beat the Oklahoma City Thunder

Lakers on fire but ESPN analyst remains impressed by OKC.

Kyle Koster

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) dribbles against Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves (15) in the second half at Crypto.com Arena.
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) dribbles against Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves (15) in the second half at Crypto.com Arena. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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Everyone is talking about the Los Angeles Lakers, and for very good reason. They have won six in a row and—surprise, surprise—it turns out pairing Luka Doncic and LeBron James together has an extremely high upside. All the hot play has elevated them to second in the Western Conference, trailing only the Oklahoma City Thunder.

This may have slightly distracted from the fact that the Thunder are 50–11 and have looked like worldbeaters all season. But Kendrick Perkins has kept his eye on the ball and remains confident that the Thunder will be representing the West.

"The Oklahoma City Thunder are going to the NBA Finals," he said. "There's not a team in the Western Conference that can beat them in a seven-game series."

Saying this definitively as the Lakers are improving exponentially is actually short of bold. Even though Oklahoma City is clearly one of the top two teams in the NBA right now.

For what it's worth, Perkins also made the argument that James is still on top of the league.

"Are we sure that Nikola Jokic is the best player in the league?" Perkins asked. "Are we sure about that? Because I would have to argue right now today that LeBron James is the best player in the NBA."

So, as always, a lot going on over at First Take. The great news for Perkins is that he can just steer into the LeBron take of the Thunder one ends up aging poorly. That's how you play the game.

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Kyle Koster
KYLE KOSTER

Kyle Koster is an assistant managing editor at Sports Illustrated covering the intersection of sports and media. He was formerly the editor in chief of The Big Lead, where he worked from 2011 to '24. Koster also did turns at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he created the Sports Pros(e) blog, and at Woven Digital.

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