Lakers Get Brutal Reality Check From Derek Fisher With OKC Thunder, Spurs Comparison
· Yahoo Sports
The Los Angeles Lakers will enter the 2026-27 NBA season with an almost brand-new roster, but their former guard Derek Fisher isn’t optimistic about their chances against the two best teams in the Western Conference. On a recent episode of the D-Fish & Decker Show, Fisher, who won five titles with the Lakers, was asked to point to the missing piece for his former team.
“NBA rosters very rarely are missing pieces necessarily,” Fisher said. “I mean, the question is, what are we comparing it to? Like missing compared to what? To Oklahoma City? Oh, yeah… To San Antonio? Oh, yeah.”
Visit sportbet.reviews for more information.
The Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs were the two clear-cut best teams in the West in 2025-26. The Thunder had a league-best 64-18 record, while the Spurs were right behind them at 62-20.
Beating these teams proved extremely difficult for everybody, and the Lakers, who were 53-29, were no different. In fact, they struggled more than most, going 0-4 against the Thunder and 1-3 against the Spurs.
The Lakers were 1-7 overall, and six of those losses were by double digits. These young, athletic teams just weren’t good matchups for them.
Now, the Lakers have gotten much younger this summer. They only have one player in the 30s: 30-year-old Kevon Looney.
The Lakers should also be great offensively with Luka Doncic leading the way, but the issue is that they still don’t look all that good defensively. Their 115.5 defensive rating ranked 20th in the NBA in 2025-26, and you wonder how much higher they could get in 2026-27.
Having a defensive anchor like new arrival Walker Kessler at center is great, but what about the rest of the starting lineup? Well, Doncic and Austin Reaves certainly won’t get All-Defensive team considerations ever in their careers. The Slovenian showed some improvement on that end last season, but this remains a weak defensive backcourt.
Quentin Grimes looks likely to be the fourth starter, and he is a solid defender. His potentially being the best perimeter defender in your starting lineup isn’t ideal, though.
As for the fifth starter, it remains unclear who that will be. The Lakers supposedly wanted Jonathan Kuminga for that spot, but he went to the Minnesota Timberwolves instead.
The Lakers’ options at the four now are Sandro Mamukelashvili, Ziaire Williams, and Jake LaRavia. Mamukelashvili is a poor defender, so you wouldn’t want him in there. Williams and LaRavia are decent defenders, but aren’t great shooters and are just inconsistent offensively.
There is just no ideal internal solution at power forward for the Lakers. If we talk about missing pieces, that’s a big one.
If we look at the Thunder now, they’re likely to have a starting lineup of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Cason Wallace, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, and Isaiah Hartenstein. Even after losing some pieces this summer, they’ll still have the likes of Alex Caruso, Ajay Mitchell, and Jared McCain coming off the bench.
The Thunder are just a dominant defensive team. When Williams and Mitchell are healthy, they also have enough offensively around two-time MVP Gilgeous-Alexander to be excellent on that end of the floor.
As for the Spurs, their starting five will likely be De’Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell, Tobias Harris, and Victor Wembanyama. Their bench unit will include the likes of Dylan Harper, Julian Champagnie, Keldon Johnson, and Luke Kornet.
Wembanyama alone makes the Spurs incredible defensively, and they also have a menace in Castle patrolling the perimeter. You might argue they aren’t great offensively by looking at the names, but their 118.7 offensive rating ranked third in the NBA last season.
There is just a lot to like about these two teams. The Ringer’s Zach Lowe thinks the Lakers have next to no chance against the Spurs and Thunder in a playoff series, and that’s probably true. We can say that about almost everyone else in the West, too, though.
It would be a shocker if the Spurs and the Thunder don’t meet in the Western Conference Finals again in 2027. The Lakers will need a lot more to get to their level.