Before Game 3, Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick discussed the quality of the Oklahoma City Thunder roster. He noted that rookie Thomas Sorber was out with a torn ACL and 2025 lottery pick Nikola Topic was just getting back from multiple health challenges. But the Thunder are stacked with quality players, even with All-NBA star Jalen Williams nursing a hamstring injury.
“The big thing with them is their depth,” Redick said pregame. “I mean, Mark (Daigneault) talked about it the other night. (Topic) dealt with some health stuff, and their rookie is dealing with some health stuff now coming back from his offseason surgery. Literally, the other 13 guys are all top seven or eight rotation players in the NBA on any team. So they can just hit you with bodies as well. Just the nature of how they built that team.”
That was clear as ever in Game 3, the night the Lakers’ season effectively ended. Luka Doncic was the only unavailable player, but it felt like more than that. The Thunder reserves have pummeled the Lakers all series, most notably with Jared McCain’s shooting while Cason Wallace and Alex Caruso strap up. In Game 3, Wallace decided to add some scoring, blitzing the Lakers with 11 first-quarter points to outscore the entire Lakers bench.
