Following the Game 3 loss on Saturday night, the Los Angeles Lakers’ season is on life support, but Austin Reaves declared that it will not end on Monday.
A demoralizing 131-108 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder buried the Lakers in a 0-3 hole, a deficit no team has climbed out of in league history.
Austin Reaves Remains Defiant Despite Thunder Nearing Series Sweep
After getting past the Houston Rockets in Round 1 thanks to LeBron James, the Lakers entered the series against Oklahoma City with belief. Considering Reaves had returned from his oblique injury, the team had every reason to be hopeful.
Unfortunately for LA, the optimism fizzled out very soon. The defending champions swiftly took control of the series, winning Games 1 and 2 with 18-point margins.
Tensions ran incredibly high following the Game 2 beatdown, as Reaves even confronted crew chief John Goble in a matchup marred by controversial calls.
But when Game 3 tipped off, it was clear the Lakers could no longer mask Luka Dončić’s absence, as Reaves and Los Angeles were overwhelmed by OKC’s speed and physicality.
The 27-year-old had another underwhelming performance, finishing with 17 points, 9 assists on 5-for-13 from the floor, and a game-high 5 turnovers.
The OKC Thunder are CLEARLY TARGETING Austin Reaves on defense. They go at him and score 5 TIMES IN A ROW 😭💀
This is DIABOLICAL pic.twitter.com/lrrfMU7gcO
— Hater Report (@HaterReport) May 10, 2026
Nonetheless, he remained focused in his postgame assessment and made a bold declaration about the upcoming Game 4.
“There’s a bunch of guys in this locker room that are competitors, and basically the message in the locker room after the game was we’re gonna come in here Monday, and we’re gonna get a win,” he said.
Austin Reaves on the Lakers’ mindset for Monday’s Game 4, with LAL down 0-3 to the Thunder, a deficit no team in NBA history has come back from:
“Just come and compete. There’s a bunch of guys in the locker room that are competitors. Basically the message after the game was… pic.twitter.com/6L7jb3A7wl
— Khobi Price (@khobi_price) May 10, 2026
Acknowledging the grim reality, Reaves added, “Obviously, this situation sucks, but that doesn’t give us the license to quit. We got to come in here and compete. We owe the organization that, we owe each other that, we owe our fans that. So we’re gonna come here Monday and play as hard as we can.”
James’ fatigue eventually caught up with him. Recording 19 points and 8 assists, the 41-year-old could not make the usual impact Lakers faithful had been used to seeing from him during the playoffs.
For the Thunder, Ajay Mitchell and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander stepped up, recording 24 and 23 points, respectively. The latter admitted he was not at his best this series so far, but the team’s collective result mattered more than his individual stat line.
“If the rest of the playoff run or the rest of my career looked like what it has the past few games, I’ll be okay with it because we won games,” Gilgeous-Alexander said.
Game 4 tips off Monday night at Crypto.com Arena. For a confident Oklahoma City side, this is an opportunity to sweep the series.
But for the Lakers and Reaves, the 48 minutes are all they have to defy all odds and deliver on the bold promise.
