The Oklahoman

Lakers get No. 7 seed, rematch with Nuggets

- Jeff Zillgitt

Klay Thompson and Chris Paul are not guaranteed a return to the Warriors as Golden State enters the offseason with a number of pressing questions.

Paul wrapped his 19th season in the NBA on Tuesday night and for the first time since 2010, he won’t be part of the NBA playoffs. The Warriors lost the play-in tournament opener to the Sacramento Kings, but Paul said he’ll be playing a 20th season in 2024-25.

“I love coaching Chris. I really hope we bring him back next year,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said postgame Tuesday.

Paul has a $30 million non-guaranteed contract with the Warriors for 2024-25, which could be a boon for a trade to bring back youth, or general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. could decide to simply wipe the hefty deal off the books entirely.

“This isn’t (the end). I know it for sure,” Paul told The Athletic this week.

Thompson is an unrestrict­ed free agent in July, meaning he can re-sign with the Warriors before June 28, the deadline for an erasure maneuver with Paul’s contract, or test the open market.

If Tuesday was Thompson’s final run with the Warriors, it was relatively forgettabl­e for the four-time NBA champion and five-time All-Star drafted by Golden State 11th overall in 2011.

Thompson didn’t score, was 0 for 10 from the field and missed all six of his 3-point attempts at Sacramento. When the final buzzer sounded and his teammates entered the tunnel to the locker room, Thompson lingered, turned around to take in the scene and exited in recognitio­n of the potential gravity and finality of the moment.

“We need Klay back,” Kerr said. “He’s still got good years left. And I know I speak for everybody in the organizati­on: We want him back.

“What Klay has meant to this franchise and as good as he still is, we desperatel­y want him back.”

A reset isn’t high on the list of op

Warriors guard Klay Thompson drives to the basket against the Kings on Tuesday. tions Kerr said the Warriors would consider. But Thompson is 34, Stephen Curry turned 36 in March and Paul will be 39 next month.

Notably one half of the “Splash Brothers” alongside Curry, Thompson could agree to a short-term deal to align with Draymond Green, Curry and Kerr, who are signed through 2026. Curry said Tuesday his primary focus is finding a way to win again after being eliminated from the playoff picture in midApril, six weeks before the NBA Finals.

“I understand this league changes and there are so many things that go into it,” Curry said, “and we’re not going to play forever. But we’ve experience­d so much together and at the end of the day I know (Green and Thompson) want to win, I know I want to win, and that’s all I’m worried about.”

Green, whose contract includes a player option for 2026-27, added he wants the Warriors to keep the band together and expects the front office to maintain the establishe­d course. He said he didn’t envision “any scenario where Klay leaves.”

“They did right by me. They’ve done right by Steph. They’ve done right by all of us,” Green said. “Klay tore his ACL and they gave him $160 million dollars.”

The New Orleans Pelicans didn’t have to win Tuesday’s play-in tournament game against the Lakers.

For their collective psyche, they needed to win the game given their abysmal outing Sunday in the regularsea­son finale with a guaranteed spot in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs on the line. The Lakers clobbered the Pelicans 124-108 on Sunday, creating a rematch Tuesday in a play-in game with the No. 7 seed at stake.

The Pelicans followed up a disastrous performanc­e with a much better but still inadequate performanc­e marred by the late-game exit of Zion Williamson, who sustained an injury and didn’t play the final 3:13 with the game on the line.

The Lakers defeated the Pelicans 110106 on Tuesday, and the Lakers will play the No. 2-seeded Denver Nuggets in a first-round, best-of-7 series starting Saturday in Denver. While that’s not an ideal matchup for the Lakers – they have lost eight consecutiv­e games to Denver, including a sweep in last season’s con

make the playoffs before you get there, then you have to win four series. Not only myself, but seeing where us as an organizati­on stands in a playoff series against whoever it may be, and seeing how good we really are.”

Entering a postseason pinned inside a historic Western Conference will force this Thunder team to grow up fast. It already has. It’s forced the players to mostly carry themselves differently. To be themselves but to mature in equal doses. To demonstrat­e they belong, with wins mostly being the currency that people will accept. None of it has stripped them of the youthful energy that got them here. After a few days off, coach Mark Daigneault said Wednesday’s practice had “first day of school energy.”

Gilgeous-Alexander frames it like an elder statesmen, mostly because he understand­s that the Thunder isn’t outrunning its age. A 39-year-old head coach, a group of players mostly composed of guys barely in their 20s.

The perspectiv­e remains, though. Gilgeous-Alexander has been injected with it since his arrival all those years ago. Holmgren and Josh Giddey began ference finals and three regular-season games in 2023-24 – at least the Lakers are in the first round.

The same cannot be said for the Pelicans. They need to win Friday at home against the Golden State-Sacramento winner to get the No. 8 seed and firstround series against top-seeded Oklahoma City.

Williamson came to play after scoring just 12 points on 13 shots in Sunday’s loss. He had a game-high 40 points and collected 11 rebounds, five assists, one steal and one block. He didn’t get enough help, and the playoff experience from the Lakers, especially from LeBron James and Anthony Davis, subdued New Orleans.

James wasn’t as magnificent as his 28-point, 17-assist, 11-rebound tripledoub­le performanc­e Sunday, but he had 23 points, nine rebounds and nine assists, and Davis had 20 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks.

The Lakers’ 14 3s on 40% shooting from that range was a difference-maker, too. New Orleans went just 9-for-30 (30%) on 3s. The Lakers also outscored the Pelicans 26-11 from the foul line and made eight consecutiv­e free throws in the final 2:57.

speaking in Thunder code not long after their arrivals.

Daigneault has digested from any previous staff and members of the organizati­on what it takes between playoff games to survive. Sam Presti took the chance recently to give the players a fan point of view, showing them what it takes for them to get to games.

“When you’re in the bowels of the arena, you show up, you park your car, you walk 10 feet to the door,” Daigneault said. “Everything unfolds for you. For the guys, their pictures (are) getting taken, everything revolves around them, but there’s people that are driving from every direction, they’re leaving work early. They’re paying to park, they’re walking from parking.”

There’s seemingly less of a lack of awareness with this young core than most. And yes, they’re still kids. They all spent Tuesday’s slate of play-in games enjoying each other’s company at Holmgren’s house. They invade each other’s post game interviews with barking and ad-libs.

Just don’t remind them of their age. It’s nearly worthless. They’ve already heard it all.

They have combined for 24 of the 42 team national titles awarded in the sport’s history.

“It is brutal,” Kindler said. “The strength is very high. We’re going to have to be really consistent.”

The Sooners’ side of the bracket also held to form with the national seedings, while the other side featured upsets that resulted in No. 6 Denver being beat out for the second spot in their regional by unranked Stanford and No. 10 Arkansas eliminatin­g No. 7 Kentucky, while No. 2 LSU and No. 3 Cal also advanced.

The top two finishers from each semifinal will advance to Saturday’s Four on the Floor, which begins at 3 p.m. on ABC.

The Sooners are one of just two teams to make the NCAA Championsh­ip in every year since 2004 and if OU can advance to Saturday’s finals, it will be the only school since 2013 to make the finals every year.

“Making it this far, we never take it for granted,” Kindler said. “We’re in the final eight, which is not easy to do and we saw a lot of ranked teams not make it here this year and that’s becoming more and more common every year.”

Kindler said the Sooners were healthy this week with the exception of Fletcher, who is battling strep throat, which has swept around the team in recent weeks.

 ?? ?? Lakers forward LeBron James drives against the Pelicans on Tuesday in New Orleans. STEPHEN LEW/USA TODAY SPORTS
Lakers forward LeBron James drives against the Pelicans on Tuesday in New Orleans. STEPHEN LEW/USA TODAY SPORTS
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