The Los Angeles Lakers dropped a tight contest to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday night, letting the game slip away in the fourth quarter at Crypto.com Arena. Playing without MVP candidates Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Luka Dončić, both teams relied on secondary scorers, and Oklahoma City ultimately prevailed.
Date: Feb. 9, 2026
Site: Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles
Jalen Williams paced the Thunder with 23 points in his return to the lineup. LeBron James led the Lakers with 22 points, while Austin Reaves supplied 16 points and seven assists off the bench on 6-for-14 shooting in 29 minutes.
Reaves picked up a technical foul after arguing what he believed were missed calls and later admitted that the sequence disrupted his rhythm.
“I think I just got frustrated when I didn’t get the foul call, got the tech, let that kind of get to me a little bit,” Reaves said post-game. “I was a little frustrated after that and couldn’t get back in the flow.”
The 25-year-old guard conceded that physical teams like the Thunder tend to contest every possession and said the Lakers need to match that intensity instead of focusing on whistles.
“A foul’s a foul, but you just have to be physical back,” Reaves noted. “That’s nothing on the refs. That’s not why we lost. I was pretty bad in that second half. I gotta be better for us.”
LeBron: Thunder Built for a Title Run
After the game, LeBron James offered a blunt assessment, stating that Oklahoma City is a championship-caliber club while the Lakers are not—an edge he felt showed late as Los Angeles faltered down the stretch.
With the defeat, the Lakers failed to capitalize on a close matchup and slipped further in the Western Conference standings, while the Thunder continued to prove their mettle despite missing star guard Gilgeous-Alexander.
Source: Lakers Nation
