{"id":740500,"date":"2026-05-21T21:36:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T21:36:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/740500\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T21:36:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T21:36:16","slug":"lebron-james-admits-thunder-out-talented-lakers-in-playoffs-says-hes-waiting-to-make-call-on-nba-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/740500\/","title":{"rendered":"LeBron James admits Thunder ‘out-talented’ Lakers in playoffs, says he’s waiting to make call on NBA future"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> had the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a>\u2019 number this season. The defending NBA champion Thunder have asserted their dominance across the league, but their excellence against the Lakers was particularly eye-catching.<\/p>\n

Oklahoma City<\/a> went 8-0 against L.A. during the 2025-26 season, including the Thunder\u2019s sweep of the Lakers in the Western Conference semifinals. While point differential doesn\u2019t always tell the whole story, OKC won six of those eight games by at least 18 points.<\/p>\n

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In the playoffs, the Lakers put up a more competitive fight, but they simply didn\u2019t have enough to combat the Thunder, especially with Luka Don\u010di\u0107 still sidelined by his Grade 2 left hamstring strain<\/a>.<\/p>\n

More than a week removed from being swept, a 41-year-old LeBron James<\/a> called it like it was on his podcast, \u201cMind the Game.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIf we being completely honest, we were out-talented,\u201d James told co-host Steve Nash<\/a> on their latest episode, which was released Thursday. \u201cWe were not outworked. They didn’t out-physical us. They didn’t outsmart us.\u201d<\/p>\n

James reiterated: \u201cI felt like we were just out-talent by OKC.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Thunder\u2019s roster is dazzling with youth. Their rotation is spearheaded by now-two-time NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/a>, Jalen Williams<\/a> and Chet Holmgren<\/a> \u2014 all of whom are locked up contractually for the long term<\/a> \u2014 and it has enough depth to survive injuries, most notably those suffered by Williams this season<\/a>.<\/p>\n

James\u2019 comments are reflective of what most NBA fans saw in the second round. Nonetheless, they\u2019re notable due to the fact that he\u2019s set to become a free agent this offseason. While Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka has repeatedly said the franchise would love to have James finish his career in L.A.<\/a>, the gap between the Lakers and Thunder \u2014 and perhaps the San Antonio Spurs<\/a> as well \u2014 could lead James elsewhere.<\/p>\n

That is, if he doesn\u2019t retire.<\/p>\n

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James just played an NBA-record 23rd season. He\u2019ll turn 42 in December. He\u2019s won four NBA championships and four league MVPs. The Akron native is a 22-time All-Star and the NBA\u2019s all-time leading scorer. He has a laundry list of records, and he still enjoys bolstering that r\u00e9sum\u00e9. But he hasn\u2019t decided if he\u2019s coming back for Year 24 yet.<\/p>\n

As has been the case in recent years, James is taking his time to make the call on what\u2019s next.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven’t even really thought about it too much,\u201d James said on \u201cMind the Game.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, I understand that I’m a free agent and I can control my own destiny, [whether it\u2019s] being here with this franchise for the foreseeable future or if it’s going somewhere else. But I haven’t really even gotten to that point.\u201d<\/p>\n

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James explained that his first order of business is taking his family vacation after Memorial Day. He said that when free agency gets going in July, and maybe even as the calendar turns to August, he\u2019ll get a better picture of what his future looks like.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it’s continuing to play the game that I love, which I know I can still give so much to the game and play at a high level, or if it’s not,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

James discussed how, especially now, winning is what keeps him going. If he runs it back again, he wants to have a shot at another championship. He also talked about how family will certainly factor into the conversation. James has relished the opportunity to spend the past two seasons with his eldest son, Bronny<\/a>, and he noted that his second son, Bryce, will be entering his second season at Arizona this year. His daughter, Zhuri, will be 12 in the fall. She\u2019s mostly grown up in L.A.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI mean, 1A and 1B is like, what do I feel comfortable doing with my career, but also with my family, how do they feel about whatever decision that I’m able to come up with and make? And that’s a joint decision as well,\u201d James said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI give them the insight, both my boys, my daughter, and my wife. So it’s 1A and 1B. I don’t think one is higher than the other, whatever the case may be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although James was candid about the separation between the Lakers and the Thunder right now, he had plenty of good things to say about his team\u2019s 2025-26 campaign. Early in Thursday\u2019s episode, he summarized the season and gleaned appreciation of what the group accomplished despite the adversity it faced.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI have the passion and the admiration to hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy up every single year, but I also have a realization of what particular team I have been a part of in that particular year, and understanding this year we fought and we played to the maximum ability of our team,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A return to the Lakers, another Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> reunion and linking up with Stephen Curry<\/a> in Golden State<\/a> with the Warriors have all been reported as possibilities for James<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If he signs with a team that isn\u2019t the Lakers, that deal, according to ESPN\u2019s Bobby Marks<\/a>, would likely come at the $15 million non-tax midlevel or veterans minimum exception.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Oklahoma City Thunder had the Los Angeles Lakers\u2019 number this season. The defending NBA champion Thunder have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":740501,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[7,3022,366,193,479,364,185,150,368,6,475,179,474,209,573,2543],"class_list":["post-740500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-basketball","tag-bronny","tag-chet-holmgren","tag-cleveland-cavaliers","tag-golden-state","tag-jalen-williams","tag-lebron-james","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-luka-doncic","tag-nba","tag-oklahoma-city","tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","tag-san-antonio-spurs","tag-shai-gilgeous-alexander","tag-stephen-curry","tag-steve-nash"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116614724553960532","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740500","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=740500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740500\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/740501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=740500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=740500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=740500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}