LeBron James dished out high praise for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on Thursday’s episode of his “Mind the Game” podcast. The Lakers superstar and his co-host, Steve Nash, discussed the Thunder star’s back-to-back MVP award win.
James backed SGA for winning the coveted award for the second time in his career. He clapped for the Thunder star and gave him his flowers for having one of the most efficient seasons in NBA history.
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“I think he’s very deserving and nobody can sit here and be like, ‘How the hell did Shai win again?’ Like, nobody can sit here and say that,” James said.
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“And to go up against him for four games and obviously in the regular season as well. He does things to a defense, does things to opposing teams that you have to simply account for. He’s number one and two and three on that scouting report, you know, and he’s the head of the snake.”
LeBron James went against the reigning MVP in the Western Conference Semifinals. The Lakers put up a great fight during the entire series, but the Thunder swept them in the end. SGA scored 35 points in Game 4 to secure a 115-110 win and close out the series.
LeBron James reveals the one reason behind the Lakers’ loss to the Shai Gilgeous-Alexander-led OKC Thunder
Earlier in the episode, LeBron James revealed the reason behind the Lakers’ loss to the OKC Thunder in the Conference Semifinals.
“This year, we fought and we played to the maximum ability of our team. But ultimately, if we’re being completely honest, we were out-talented,” James said. (Timestamp: 8:35). “We were not out-worked. They didn’t out-physical us. They didn’t out-smart us. I feel like we were just out-talented by OKC. They just possess so much more talent.”
The Thunder outperformed the Lakers and won by double digits in three of the four games in the series. However, the Purple and Gold were without the league’s leading scorer, Luka Doncic. The six-time All-Star was out with a grade 2 hamstring strain.
Later, James added that the loss did not bother him as he knew his team was not at full strength.
“You can tip your cap to them, obviously,” he said. “But you can’t get caught up in that, especially when you know that you were under-manned, for sure.”
LeBron James did a good job in carrying a Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves-less Lakers squad to the semifinals. The four-time NBA champion averaged 23.2 points, 6.7 rebounds and 7.3 assists in the playoffs this season.
Edited by Avi Shravan
