{"id":727264,"date":"2026-05-06T15:06:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T15:06:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/727264\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T15:06:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T15:06:21","slug":"we-have-a-guy-that-averaged-37-a-game-lebron-james-points-to-luka-doncics-absence-as-the-lakers-main-offensive-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/727264\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWe have a guy that averaged 37 a game\u201d – LeBron James points to Luka Doncic’s absence as the Lakers\u2019 main offensive issue"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> were the underdogs going into the semifinal series against the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a>. Most of it had to do with Coach JJ Redick<\/a> and team still being without their leading scorer, Luka Doncic<\/a>, who has been dealing with a hamstring injury.<\/p>\n

Add to it a returning Austin Reaves<\/a>, who is yet to shake off the rust. As a result, Lakers Nation has no choice but to rely on a 41-year-old LeBron James<\/a> as the sole offensive engine of the team, something he did do to a large extent in the first round against the Houston Rockets<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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But expecting the same from him in the West semifinals against the defending champions, Thunder, is a bit much. Though he did manage to put up a highly efficient 27-point performance against the Thunder in Game 1, it was never going to be enough to get the win.<\/p>\n

Addressing the media postgame, James was asked about the team’s struggles offensively, and the four-time champion didn’t mind highlighting Doncic’s absence.<\/p>\n

“The offensive issues coming from? We have a guy that averaged 37 a game \u2026 There’s the issues right there. We’re playing against the No. 1 defensive team in the NBA. And when you play against great defenses, you have to have guys that can attract multiple defenders on the floor at all times. I feel like we got some great shots tonight, we missed them,”stated<\/a> King James.<\/p>\n

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It was never going to be easy<\/p>\n

Facing a dominant team like the Thunder, James knew from the get-go that the Lakers had to bring their A game. Even more so with Doncic being out, given the MVP season he was having,\u00a0averaging 33.5 points, 8.3 assists and 7.7 rebounds on 47.6 percent shooting from the field.<\/p>\n

The Thunder held another edge over the Lakers with their perfect 4-0 record in their 2025-26 regular-season meetings. That said, Doncic didn’t play in two of those games \u2014 no surprises why LeBron would need the Slovenian sensation by his side in the West semifinals.<\/p>\n

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“When you play against the World Champions, having a guy that averages 34-8-9, whatever the hell it is, that’s special,” said the veteran Lakers superstar, acknowledging they had to play better in the paint.<\/p>\n

“We know they’re (Thunder) a paint-swarming team, so they have to be better with getting to the paint and not turning the ball over and then shooting with confidence. But I feel like we got some really good looks,” added James, who may have to play the remainder of the series without Doncic.<\/p>\n

Related: “We’re the underdog” – LeBron James reveals the brutal reality of facing the Thunder without Luka Doncic<\/a><\/p>\n

Availability ahead of Game 2<\/p>\n

Though Doncic did show up to support his team on the road, it is highly unlikely for him to return ahead of Game 2. ESPN’s Shams Charania had reported a couple of days back that Luka would be out to start the series against the Thunder, and that the Lakers were evaluating him on a week-to-week basis.<\/p>\n

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“So he’s missed about a month right now. One source told me in the last few days, it’s still a slow path on Doncic’s recovery. He’s doing more and more on the court, but right now still not full-fledged running or full-contact workouts,”mentioned<\/a> Charania.<\/p>\n

Given the circumstances, it is highly unlikely that Doncic will be back anytime soon. On the other hand, things are only getting worse for the Lakers, who had Jarred Vanderbilt<\/a> injure his pinky finger in Game 1, forcing him to exit the game.<\/p>\n

At this point, a 2018 version of LeBron may not be enough to combat the Thunder, making it an unfortunate situation for Lakers Nation.<\/p>\n

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Related: LeBron James breaks silence on the “nightmare” scenario that forced him back into the Lakers’ #1 role<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Basketball Network<\/a> on May 6, 2026, where it first appeared in the Latest News<\/a> section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Los Angeles Lakers were the underdogs going into the semifinal series against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Most…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":708925,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3790],"tags":[1013,7,194,399,1661,3205,4034,1698,300,88864,4044,185,251,150,4033,4043,368,6,179],"class_list":["post-727264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles-lakers","tag-austin-reaves","tag-basketball","tag-houston-rockets","tag-jarred-vanderbilt","tag-jj-redick","tag-king-james","tag-la","tag-la-lakers","tag-lakers","tag-lakers-nation","tag-lalakers","tag-lebron-james","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-losangeles","tag-losangeleslakers","tag-luka-doncic","tag-nba","tag-oklahoma-city-thunder"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116528256366752076","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727264","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=727264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/708925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=727264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=727264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=727264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}