OKLAHOMA CITY –<\/p>\n
The Oklahoma City Thunder begin a crucial stretch run Tuesday night in Los Angeles with a chance to lock up the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.<\/p>\n
Oklahoma City needs just two wins in its final four games to secure the top spot, with the homestretch starting with a back-to-back against the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers.<\/p>\n
\n How to Watch<\/p>\n
Matchup: Oklahoma City Thunder @ Los Angeles Lakers
Date: Tuesday, April 7, 2026
Time: 9:30 p.m. CT
Location: Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles
TV: FanDuel Sports Oklahoma<\/p>\n
\n Thunder rolling into postseason<\/p>\n
The Thunder enter the matchup playing their best basketball of the season.<\/p>\n
Oklahoma City lost just once in March and remains unbeaten in April, building momentum at the right time as the playoffs approach.<\/p>\n
Jalen Williams is out, which means that Oklahoma City\u2019s preferred five \u2014 Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, Luguentz Dort, Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein, have started just nine games together this season. <\/p>\n
\n Chet Holmgren stepping up<\/p>\n
Head coach Mark Daigneault pointed to Chet Holmgren\u2019s recent performance as a sign of the team\u2019s growth.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had a very fundamental game,\u201d Daigneault said. \u201cHe ran the floor really well and finished those plays. He spaced well both around the basket and on the perimeter. He took his catch and shoots. He played quickly off the catch.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daigneault added that Holmgren\u2019s production came from doing the basics well.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of that came on the vegetables and the meat. Not a lot of dessert.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n Injury update<\/p>\n
The Thunder will be without Jalen Williams for Tuesday\u2019s game after he was downgraded to out. The Lakers will be without its stars due to injury; LeBron James, Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves and Marcus Smart. <\/p>\n
The Thunder are favored by 18.5 points tonight. The Thunder played the Lakers on Thursday at Paycom Center and won in blowout fashion, 139-96. In that game, Doncic left early with a Grade 2 hamstring injury, and Reaves suffered an oblique injury. Both are out for the rest of the regular season and potentially for the start of the playoffs. Doncic traveled to Spain for treatment, reports say<\/a>. <\/p>\n \n Playoff positioning<\/p>\n Western Conference Standings<\/p>\n Thunder (62-16)Spurs (60-19)Nuggets (51-28)Lakers (50-28)Rockets (49-29)Timberwolves (46-32)<\/p>\n \n What\u2019s ahead<\/p>\n After facing the Lakers, Oklahoma City will stay in Los Angeles for a Wednesday matchup against the Clippers before traveling to Denver for its final road game of the regular season.<\/p>\n The Thunder will close the season at home against Phoenix.<\/p>\n With the No. 1 seed within reach, every game carries playoff-level importance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma City Thunder begin a crucial stretch run Tuesday night in Los Angeles with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":704003,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3790],"tags":[7,4034,1698,300,4044,251,150,4033,4043,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-704002","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-lakers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-la","10":"tag-la-lakers","11":"tag-lakers","12":"tag-lalakers","13":"tag-los-angeles","14":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","15":"tag-losangeles","16":"tag-losangeleslakers","17":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116365360170122224","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=704002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/704003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=704002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=704002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=704002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}