In his 23-year-long career, LeBron James has played over 1900 games in the regular season and postseason combined. So, he has seen just about everything in the world of basketball.
However, he will be in an unfamiliar situation in Game 1 against the Oklahoma City Thunder because the Lakers enter as a 15.5-point underdog.
In the regular season or postseason, it will be the biggest underdog that LeBron has ever seen.
In their 2026 NBA Playoffs first-round series, the Lakers finished off the Houston Rockets by a 98-78 win in game 6 to take the series 4-2.
The Lakers team is playing short-handed as Austin Reaves and Luka Dončić were not part of the series. Against the Rockets, the Lakers entered as +425 underdogs. However, Kevin Durant was unable to play five of the six games due to injuries. Reeves came back in the last few matches, but it was James who carried the Los Angeles Lakers to a playoff series victory.
Unfortunate for the Lakers that for the next game, the number 1 seed Thunder are waiting for them. Thunder made light work of the No. 8 seed Phoenix Suns after a 4-0 sweep.
Now, in the series against Thunder, the LA Lakers are +950 underdogs. It was the biggest underdog the Lakers have seen in the playoffs since 1988.
The previous biggest underdog a James-led team had was back in Game 1 of the 2018 NBA Finals. At the time, James’ Cavaliers were 12.5-point underdogs and lost 124-114 in overtime to the Golden State Warriors
