LOS ANGELES — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is past the point of developmental leaps. He’s in his refinement era.
His Oklahoma City Thunder, overwhelming as they can appear, still vary in ages and experience. In cohesion and role. In their ability to swing quarters and games.
The Thunder have made the postseason look like a little more than the lift of a finger. But their four-game, second-round sweep of the Luka Dončić-less Los Angeles Lakers required them to spin the hamster wheel. They brainstormed more than their dominance suggested.
“A lot of mixing defenses,” coach Mark Daigneault said after Monday’s 115-110 series-clinching win. “That’s about as aggressive as we’ve been double-teamed in a while, certainly in a playoff series. It was too similar to Denver playing that much zone in a playoff series a year ago. It really had us sharpen our attacks.”
There’s no higher compliment to Lakers coach JJ Redick than Daigneault evoking old, schematic wounds. The 2025 Western Conference semifinals were the Thunder’s inflection point, the series that tested their mettle and groomed their problem-solving. Those Denver Nuggets pushed last year’s Thunder to the brink, schemed to make Gilgeous-Alexander’s processing feel impossible. They appointed Christian Braun up top and formed a box behind him.
Of all the things Redick could live with, Gilgeous-Alexander winning on an island wasn’t one — particularly early in the series. Behind his seven Game 1 turnovers, SGA’s 3.8 turnovers per game were the most in any series of his career.
SGA’s primary defenders stitched themselves to him all down the floor. On the occasions he could catch the ball, or looked like he might receive it, the Lakers often hurried a second defender over. In Games 3 and 4, when the doubles were dialed back, the threat remained.
He’s long studied trust and the necessary doses to deploy it. This Thunder offense, more deadly than two years ago, boasts better weapons than when Gilgeous-Alexander needed to radically single out Dončić’s Dallas Mavericks from the midrange.
His growth, in the places it can still sprout, comes in his recognition across a series. His acceptance of the annoying coverages designed to impede him.
Gilgeous-Alexander — even without Jalen Williams — has the gift to defer.
“Last year, the Denver series, I found myself getting better throughout the series,” he said. “This series, I just recognized my own personal growth. Hats off to my teammates. (The Lakers’) goal was to make my teammates beat them the first three games, and my teammates did exactly that.
Added Daigneault: “Him not fighting the game in those situations reeled back the double-teams, and then he kind of hid in the grass. (On Monday), he went and closed that thing. … Impact takes on different faces, and his impact was all four games.”
L.A.’s chase of the superstar guard proved as exhausting as it was exhaustive. Oklahoma City found some success on the offensive glass with as many bodies squared toward Gilgeous-Alexander early on. Chet Holmgren made all four of his paint shots in Monday’s fourth quarter. He’s turned his once theoretical presence as a lob threat into truth. Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein, a plus-30 in the Thunder’s first clutch game of the postseason, are legitimately dangerous in the half court.
They, too, are better for being dared by the Lakers.
Ajay Mitchell long owned a vote of confidence in the building. But L.A.’s priorities forced him to become more dependable. The volume made him bolder and, in turn, more confident. In Round 2, he averaged 22 points, six assists and 1.8 steals and shot 66.7 percent from 2-point range on 12 attempts per game.
Every game asked for his poise. Each performance pushed him further up the pecking order, pronouncing his potential stardom. He had social media searching the details of his contract, groaning over another Sam Presti gem. For a few minutes in the fourth quarter, Gilgeous-Alexander and a 23-year-old second-round pick took turns in isolation in a closeout game.
Mitchell finished Game 4 with 28 points, 10 in the fourth, and the stamp of a superstar.
“You could say he’s been our best player this series,” Gilgeous-Alexander told sideline reporter Allie Clifton postgame.
Ajay Mitchell had 28 points and four rebounds and helped the Oklahoma City Thunder sweep the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday. (Luke Hales / Getty Images)
For Mitchell to emerge, for Holmgren to crystallize as a force, for it all to happen in the first series SGA got to play against LeBron James — and potentially his last — illustrates how quickly this league moves on.
Three years earlier, in February 2023, an almost unrecognizable iteration of the Thunder served as a footnote on the night that James became the NBA’s all-time leading scorer. Holmgren was a redshirted rookie. Gilgeous-Alexander (surprise) scored 30. Six players remain on the roster from that team, which was proud to spoil The King’s night with a road win.
Now these Thunder hope to harness the inevitability that James once wielded. That defined his reign. James, 41, is three months older than Daigneault — and yet he remains a force. He demanded the most sturdy of Lu Dort’s defensive stances. He taught Mitchell what old-man strength felt like. He elicited the best of former Laker teammate Alex Caruso’s timing in passing and driving lanes. Their series-long fight for positioning and angles became the game within the game.
A well-timed James was who Gilgeous-Alexander sometimes saw when he turned into early, effective doubles in Game 4. He’s who Holmgren needed to muscle through and pivot around for a go-ahead dunk to go up two.
“It was super dope playing against him, obviously an all-time great, one of the greatest ever,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “To share the floor with great players like that, guys that I grew up watching and kind of shaped my opinion of basketball growing up and how the game is played, it’s a special, full-circle moment.”
“If you make a mistake on him, he’s going to make you pay for it, and it actually helps you improve,” Daigneault said about James. “You’re a better team. He’s developing your team because any crack, he’s gonna find it.”
The Thunder became the 14th team to sweep the first two rounds of the playoffs since 1982. Seven of those teams made the NBA Finals. Six of them won it all. The numbers back the way they’ve cruised.
There’s potentially a much larger mountain waiting to be scaled. Monotony, though, threatens dominance. Even in a sweep, James and Redick’s Lakers proved a useful opponent for a juggernaut. They made the Thunder think.
