- Oklahoma City Thunder (62-16, 1st in the West) @ Los Angeles Lakers (50-28, 4th in the West)
- When: Tuesday, 07 April 2026 at 9:30pm CST
- Where: Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, CA
- TV: FDSN-OK
- Offensive Rating: LAL: 117.1 (9th) / OKC: 117.6 (7th)
- Defensive Rating: LAL: 116.0 (20th) / OKC: 106.0 (1st)
- Net Rating: LAL: 1.2 (16th) / OKC: 11.6 (1st)
- Current Streaks: LAL: Losers of 2 straight, but had won 13 of their previous 14 games / OKC: Winners of 5 straight
- Magic Number (to clinch the No. 1 seed throughout the playoffs): 2
The Tip-Off
In my honest opinion, this is the most dangerous time in the season for a contending team. The thin line between resting players and keeping them sharp by playing in sometimes meaningless games leads to the possibility of fatigue and, worst of all, injuries. The Lakers experienced that twice in one game, with Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves being knocked of the Thunder game (and the rest of the regular season and likely part or all of the postseason) with soft-tissue injuries. San Antonio saw Victor Wembanyama go down in their last game with a rib injury. Regardless of the severity of the injury, rib injuries have a tendency to creep back up, especially with the increased physicality of playoff games. This is why wrapping up your playoff positioning as early as possible is so important.
This is the fourth and final meeting of the regular season between the Thunder and Lakers. The Thunder have won the first three meetings this season by an average of 27 points.
Betting Info, presented by FanDuel
- Line: OKC -18.5
- O/U: 220.5
Injury Report
OKC
- Thomas Sorber – OFS (knee/ACL)
- Jalen Williams – OUT (hamstring injury management)
LAL
- Luka Doncic – OUT (hamstring)
- LeBron James – OUT (foot)
- Austin Reaves – OUT (oblique)
- Marcus Smart – OUT (ankle)
Three Big Things
- Take Care of Business – With a magic number of 2, the Thunder could go ahead and wrap up home-court advantage for the playoffs by the end of the day on Wednesday. But the games still need to be played and the Thunder face a Lakers team that is very depleted, but very desperate. The Lakers will likely come out like a wounded animal, looking to not only seek some revenge on the Thunder, but also regain their grip on the 3rd seed in the West. The Thunder will need to come out early, play their game, and not give LA any form of hope.
- Depth – The Thunder have it. The Lakers currently do not. This is where the game can go from a deficit to a blow-out for the Lakers. Los Angeles will have to contend with one of the best starting line-ups in the league, and then will have to match that against one of the best/deepest benches in the league.
- Attack the Paint – The key to the blowout victory on April 2nd wasn’t the three-pointers or the injuries to Reaves and Doncic. It was OKC’s ability to get into the paint and then cause havoc once there by either scoring or spraying the ball out to open shooters. The Thunder scored 64 points in the paint. Their season average for points in the paint is 49.5 (good for 17th in the league). With the lack of rim protection and with Marcus Smart still being out, this may be another paint-touch mastery class in the making.