Are Lakers a Threat to OKC Thunder in the West?

To this point, the Oklahoma City Thunder are the clear favorite to come out of the Western Conference and submit their ticket to the NBA Finals.

Oklahoma City boasts a myriad of reasons they’re the league’s No. 1 team at 42-9. It has the MVP front-runner in guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who on a nightly basis is not to be denied as one of the best players in the world. In 2025, it boasts the best offensive and defensive rating in the entire league. Additionally, they’re one of the deepest teams in the league, having another All-Star in Jalen Williams, with players like Chet Holmgren, Isaiah Hartenstein, Lu Dort and plenty more close behind.

And to put the cherry on top of OKC’s season so far, they have a 7.5-game lead over the next best West team, and the field hasn’t been overly impressive through the first half of the season.

Cut to Luka Doncic donning the purple and gold.

Just days ago, the Dallas Mavericks shocked the NBA world, trading the 25-year-old superstar to LA for a package centered around Anthony Davis, who as an aside is now out indefinitely due to injury.

Dallas had previously given OKC fits with Doncic at the helm, ousting them from last year’s postseason and winning three of four matchups this year. But now the team down I-35 certainly poses less of a threat with the league's youngest superstar in LA.

But Oklahoma City isn’t rid of the threat that is Doncic just yet. He now stands alongside all-time great LeBron James, who despite being on the wrong side of 40, is still good enough to be an All-Star starter.

The new pairing begs the question: are the Lakers a threat to OKC? For now, the answer is likely no.

The Mavericks were very specifically built around Doncic, owning sharpshooters, stingy perimeter defenders and, most importantly, size and vertical threats. The Lakers have some of those things: Austin Reaves and Dalton Knecht offer ancillary offensive pieces, Dorian Finney-Smith and Jarred Vanderbilt provide much-needed defense. But the final piece to the purple and gold puzzle fell through when the Mark Williams trade was rescinded due to failed physical.

Most simply, the Lakers likely just don’t have the pure talent, continuity or chemistry at the present moment to outdo the Thunder in the coming months. If it does, it will likely be due to gargantuan efforts from James and Doncic, which of course aren’t off the table.

The scarier prospect is that Los Angeles likely soon will. Doncic is hysterically easy to build around, and the Lakers will have a leg up in signing players in free agency as one of the league’s biggest markets. But that’s an issue for a later Thunder squad.

Regardless, both teams are keeping their heads down for the next week as we near the All-Star break.

Want to join the discussion? Like Thunder on SI on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to stay up to date on all the latest Thunder news. You can also meet the team behind the coverage.