The Los Angeles Lakers suffered a brutal loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night, falling by 29 points in a game that was never close. Lakers head coach JJ Redick believed the loss signaled a chance to course-correct after giving up an efficient 30 points to Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Nights like Wednesday have become routine for the reigning MVP. He scored 30 and added five rebounds and nine assists on 10-of-18 from the field. Gilgeous-Alexander has steadily climbed to the top of the NBA landscape, having one of the best individual seasons in league history in 2024-25 and looking to repeat the effort in 2025-26.
And Redick had nothing but kind words to say about him in the aftermath of the loss. He recognized that there is effectively nothing teams can do at this point to stop him from scoring at will, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“Yeah, I mean he’s a killer. Just like a lot of the best players in the world are. He’s the MVP for a reason. I think he gets the warranted amount of attention and scheming from opposing defenses like we did. And he still is going to figure out a way to get 30. He’s just a really, really good basketball player.”
Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder are set up to be major players in the NBA landscape for years to come. They already have one title, are 12-1 to begin this year as heavy favorites to repeat and have the talent. salary structure and draft capital to stay competitive for as long as they so choose.
If the Lakers are going to become championship contenders, Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder are going to be the benchmark. And while nights like Wednesday don’t inspire much confidence this season, it does act as a measuring stick for how far the Lakers still need to go.
Timberwolves’ Chris Finch takes jab at JJ Redick
The Lakers took a bit of a risk when they hired JJ Redick to be their head coach ahead of the 2024-25 NBA season. Redick had never coached professionally but built up strong equity in his basketball IQ in his years as a player and then his time as an analyst for ESPN and a podcast host.
Redick easily could have been a disaster at the helm of his first NBA team. Instead, he led the Lakers to the playoffs in his first season, despite the team undergoing a seismic roster change midseason in the form of Luka Doncic. He completely shifted the way the Lakers played, and the team went on a shocking defensive run after acquiring Doncic.
In his first playoff series, though, Redick was out-coached by Chris Finch and his Lakers were ousted by the Minnesota Timberwolves in five games. Now, Finch had jokes to say about Redick and the amount of sports podcasters there are in the media landscape today.
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