Worldwide Sports News

Now on the brink of elimination, the Los Angeles Lakers look to avoid being swept in Game 4 against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday.

Start time and TV schedule

Who: Los Angeles Lakers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder

When: 7:30 p.m. PT, May 7

Where: Crypto.com Arena

Watch: Prime Video

Unless the Lakers have a miracle in them to come back from a 3-0 series deficit, this series feels pretty much over. No matter what adjustment the Lakers come up with, what’s been established is that they’re simply not better than the Thunder.

And that’s why Los Angeles is on the verge of being swept — unless they have something to say about it.

In order to keep their season alive on Monday, the Lakers have to do something they haven’t done in this series: outplay the Thunder. This means LeBron James and Austin Reaves have to give more than what they already have in the last three games and hope most of their supporting cast play extraordinarily well.

This is what James and Reaves pretty much implied after Game 3. But the question is, will they follow through?

Over the years in the playoffs, there have been times when the Lakers let go of the rope — remember the Nuggets series in 2023 — simply because they couldn’t compete anymore. They can do that on Monday, too, but it’ll be up to them.

This season has obviously not been perfect for the Lakers, but if there are two things they have consistently done, it’s compete to the best of their abilities and rise to the occasion. That’s why it’ll honestly be a surprise if this team doesn’t go down swinging. They owe it to themselves at least to keep fighting until the final buzzer.

Whether fighting means controlling the paint, stepping up their defense, especially against the Thunder’s role players — looking at Ajay Mitchell — or simply coming out stronger in the third quarter, this is the game where the Lakers throw everything they have at OKC and let desperation take over.

Let’s see if that works for the purple and gold and if they can live to fight another day on Monday.

Notes and Updates

• For the Lakers’ injury report, only Luka Dončić (left hamstring strain) is out.
• As for the Thunder, Jalen Williams (left hamstring strain) and Thomas Sorber (ACL surgery recovery) will not suit up.

You can follow Nicole on Twitter at @nicoleganglani.

San Antonio Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson had to field questions about his superstar center after his first career ejection in Game 4 against the Minnesota Timberwolves on May 10.

Victor Wembanyama was ejected in the second quarter after pulling in a rebound and delivering an intentional elbow to the throat of Naz Reid after being swarmed by him and Jaden McDaniels.

Johnson, after the game didn't condone the act, but was in defense of the Spurs' MVP candidate and 2026 Defensive Player of the Year.

“In general, I do think it’s getting to a point that the people that are in charge of controlling the game and protecting the physicality of the game don’t do that, then at some point he’s going to have to protect himself,” Johnson told reporters after the game. “We’ve been asking him to do that for a while. Naz Reid was okay and that call was warranted, but in terms of the game plan of every single team we face since that young man has been in the league and the physicality that people try to impose on him and the lack of protection is really disappointing."

Minnesota and San Antonio had been a physical series leading up to the Wemby's bow. On the particular play, as Wembanyama came down with the rebound, he was smacked in the head by McDaniels, who then held Wembanyama's arm afterward.

As he swung away from McDaniels, his elbow made contact with Reid, catching him in the throat.

The game's officials reviewed it and determined that the contact was an unnecessary, non-basketball play with wind up, contact and follow through, resulting in the Spurs center's first-career ejection – regular season or postseason.

“At some level, it’s starting to get actually disgusting, just in terms of when he tries to fight through things and be professional and mature and deal with some of that stuff," Johnson said. "I’m glad he took matters into his own hands — not at all in terms of hitting Naz Reid, I want to be very clear about that, I’m glad Naz Reid was okay. I didn’t want him to elbow him. But he’s going to have to protect himself if they’re not. And I think it’s disgusting.”

The Spurs went on to lose the game without Wemby, 114-109.

Social media reactions to Spurs-Wolves physicality

Social media also has noticed the physicality with Wembanyama in the Wolves-Spurs series so far. Here's how X users, some clearly Spurs fans, have reacted to how the series has been played. It's social media, please be advised of explicit language.

The biggest stories, every morning. Stay up-to-date on all the key sports developments by subscribing to USA TODAY Sports' newsletter.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson responds to Victor Wembanyama ejection

Victor Wembanyama had never been in this spot before.

After a Flagrant 2 foul was announced following a review when Wembanyama delivered an elbow to Naz Reid’s neck midway through the second quarter of Game 4, he needed to ask Spurs teammate Harrison Barnes, “What does that mean?”

And when Barnes answered Wembanyama’s question — a moment that was captured by the NBC broadcast — on Sunday, Wembanyama nodded, high-fived some teammates and walked away from the bench after getting ejected for the first time in his career.

The foul occurred when Reid, Wembanyama and another Timberwolves player were fighting for control of a rebound, and when Wembanyama collected possession, he wound up his elbow and directed it toward Reid at Target Center.

Reid fell toward the ground, and Wembanyama’s night ended with just four points across 12 minutes and 2-for-5 shooting from the field.

Wemby had to ask Harrison Barnes what a Flagrant 2 foul meant. pic.twitter.com/59BxcZCBFA

— NBA on NBC and Peacock (@NBAonNBC) May 11, 2026

“I by no means thought it was intentional,” Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson told reporters postgame. “Tough break. … In general, I think it’s getting to a point where if the people that are in charge of controlling the game and protecting the physicality of the game don’t do that, then at some point he’s gonna have to protect himself. We’ve been asking him to do that now for a while.”

And with the Spurs forced to spend the final 38-plus minutes without their superstar, it altered Game 4, with the Timberwolves winning, 114-109, behind 36 points from Anthony Edwards to even the series at two games apiece.

Johnson, though, was left furious at the physicality Wembanyama has been forced to deal with — and how he has to “protect himself” on the court if the officials won’t.

“I just think that the amount of physicality that people play with with him, at some level you have to protect yourself,” Johnson told reporters. “Every single play on every single part of the floor, people are trying to impose their physicality on him.

The series now shifts back to San Antonio, with Game 5 set for Wednesday, and it’s unclear if Wembanyama will face any additional discipline following the incident.

Winning is a family affair for Jalen Brunson, and he made sure to celebrate the Knicks’ 144-114 series-clinching victory over the 76ers as such. 

The Knicks star was captured sweetly celebrating the win with his family after he put up 22 points in 28 minutes in Game 4 at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Sunday, while shooting 8-of-17 from the floor and 6-of-10 from 3-point range. 

In one photograph, Brunson is seen picking up his daughter, Jordyn, and kissing her on the cheek. 

In another image, he is seen holding his daughter, who will be 2 years old in July, and sharing a kiss with his wife Ali. 

In a separate heartwarming moment, the Knicks star is seen walking off the court while holding his daughter’s hand as she walks beside him. 

During Brunson’s postgame press conference, he was briefly interrupted by an adorable voice in the back of the room shouting, “Hi dada.” 

Jordyn could be heard shouting “dada” a second time, which caused Brunson to chuckle and lose his train of thought for a moment. 

“Hi dada”

Jalen Brunson cracks up when his daughter says hi after Knicks win over 76ers. pic.twitter.com/oGG5sOuQL3

— New York Post Sports (@nypostsports) May 10, 2026

Sunday’s win marked the second consecutive postseason run in which the Knicks reached the Eastern Conference finals, though the team did it in emphatic fashion against the Sixers. 

All but one game was close during the series and Brunson continued to show how he has helped turn the Knicks into a winning franchise. 

Brunson has averaged 28.0 points on 48.6 percent shooting from the floor and 37.5 percent shooting from 3-point range. 

Asked to reflect on his role in reviving the Knicks fortunes, Brunson wanted to save that question for later. 

“I think that’s a question I would love to answer once I retire. This place means a lot to me and we’re still writing our story. So I’ll answer that at another time,” he responded. 

The Knicks have some downtime while they wait to find out if they’ll be playing the Pistons or the Cavaliers in the conference finals. 

This would’ve been a very different game had Victor Wembanyama been on the floor for most of it.

The San Antonio Spurs wasted a chance to take a commanding 3-1 series lead on Sunday, May 10 over the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference semifinals when Wembanyama’s second quarter ejection sabotaged their efforts.

Wembanyama, 22, is a bright, young player, one who has been transparent about his relative inexperience in playoff basketball. Treat this as another lesson, rather unfairly, that he’ll have to learn.

Because not only did Wembanyama miss two and a half quarters of an eventual five-point loss, he might face further discipline from the NBA league office, including a possible suspension.

Sunday’s NBA draft lottery provided a bit of a surprise and some unfortunate good luck for the Clippers, who saw the Thunder not jump into the top four while also having the Pacers slip, resulting in the other LA team picking fifth.

The Wizards secured the top pick, a familiar place for an Anthony Davis team to be, while the Jazz, Grizzlies and Bulls round out the top of the draft.

The Lakers knew their spot in the draft some time ago following a coin flip with the Knicks that saw them land at the 25th pick. With the season on the brink of ending and the draft now approaching, let’s take a look at some of the prospects fans can start searching for on YouTube.

SB Nation — Joshua Jefferson, forward, Iowa State

In a bit of a spoiler for the rest of these picks, this is the only non-center mocked to the Lakers. However, wings are always a valuable commodity and the Lakers certainly could use more of them.

Here’s what Ricky O’Donnell had to say about this pick:

Jefferson is a big, strong forward who brings two-way ability and rare passing vision for someone his size. He made a nice leap as a shooter this year to get up to 34.5 percent from three (a career-best), but he’ll need to continue to grow in that area. He will add some toughness and rebounding to any frontcourt, and his ball handling and playmaking would let JJ Redick’s coaching staff get creative with his usage.

Friend of Silver Screen & Roll and draft expert Mike Garcia also shared some insights on Jefferson in his recent Substack post.

Simply put, he has an NBA body and reads the floor. He has a sense of confidence with the basketball and just plays poised all the time. It helps he knows exactly where to be and what to anticipate on both ends of the floor. This kind of reading ability, a lot of NBA players don’t reach.

What makes him appealing? He’s just mobile enough to be switchable, but reads the game so well, he’ll likely be neutral defensively as a big wing and possible back up 5 as a rookie, which is an absolutely big deal.

ESPN — Henri Veesaar, center, North Carolina

The general consensus is that the Lakers need an athletic, lob-catching center. However, there also might not be that type of player available. Instead, there’s a different option in Henri Veesaar from North Carolina.

Here’s Jeremy Woo’s insight:

Veesaar comes off a productive season at North Carolina and will offer sheer size and viable shooting (42.6% from 3) in a draft that has become light on true centers. He has above-average athleticism and offensive skill for his size, plus he should also be able to hold up defensively in drop coverage. The functionality he offers on offense and defense should allow him to plug into a rotation next season.

The Athletic — Henri Veesaar, center, North Carolina

Woo wasn’t alone in projecting Veesaar to LA as Sam Vecenie of The Athletic followed suit as well.

Veesaar is projecting like he prefers to stay in the 2026 draft, and he’d be a pretty excellent fit as a floor-spacing complement for the Lakers with all of their perimeter talent. Yes, Luka Dončić tends to like more of a rim-running big than a floor-spacer, but the Lakers simply need talent at the center position. At 7-foot, Veesaar moves very well for his size and also has a high-end skill set that involves both passing (as he averaged 2.1 assists per game) and shooting from distance, as he hit 42.6 percent of his three 3-point attempts per game.

CBS Sports — Rueben Chinyelu, center, Florida

Veesaar isn’t the only center expected to be available in the range of the Lakers’ pick. Reuben Chinyelu isn’t quite a lob-catching big, but he’s still a center that could prove valuable to the purple and gold.

Here’s Adam Finkelstein’s thoughts on the potential selection:

Chinyelu is another one who may very well be headed back to Florida next year, but is ready to impact an NBA game defensively right now. At 6-foot-10 with a nearly 7-foot-8 wingspan, he’s freakishly long, powerful, and yet totally switchable with great recoverability. The offense has improved, but is still limited. The Gators are waiting, but it’s not hard to see how Chinyelu could be exactly what the Lakers need.

Our good friend Mike Garcia also wrote about Chinyelu in his Substack post:

Steven Adams’s strength is otherworldly, but if there was a more mortal version of that kind of archetype, it’s Rueben Chinyelu. Rueben isn’t that kind of giant, but he has one advantage defensively that Steven Adams doesn’t have; the ability to mirror smaller point guards defensively along the perimeter, while still being a dominant rebounder. This also makes him great at hedging or trapping in screen situations and recovering to the roll man.

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.

The Western Conference Semifinals between the Spurs and the Timberwolves keeps providing memorable matchups. On Sunday, Victor Wembanyama’s first-half ejection threatened to create a throwaway game, but the Silver and Black responded without their best player and battled to the very end before losing a heartbreaker, 114-109. The series will move back to San Antonio for Game 5 tied 2-2.

Surprisingly, considering the event that will be most remembered from this game, the Spurs seemed like the calmer and more disciplined team early on. They played with pace while still involving Victor Wembanyama both on and off the ball, with the pick and roll between the big man and Stephon Castle proving to be effective. On the defensive end San Antonio was not sending as much help as they did in past games but were getting some stops. The main thing keeping the Timberwolves in it in the opening few minutes were second-chance points. Alas, as it has happened often in the postseason, once the second unit checked in, the execution suffered and Minnesota upped the pressure to create turnovers. The momentum was swinging the home team’s way before Dylan Harper, who had a slow, erratic start, showed off his tremendous offensive talent to provide a boost. After one, the Wolves led by four on a surprisingly high-scoring affair.

Both teams quickly started to settle for too many jumpers to kick off the second quarter, but the Spurs were getting the better of their opponent until the incident that changed the game. Victor Wembanyama got an offensive rebound, was fouled, didn’t hear a whistle, and threw an elbow at Naz Reid that rightfully got him ejected. The rest of the half prectably consisted of the Wolves trying to get to the rim as much as possible, with Anthony Edwards attempting to take over. But the Silver and Black responded. Luke Kornet provided some good minutes, and the frenetic pace of the game when they went small favored them. There were some stretches when it seemed like Minnesota would pull away, but San Antonio’s guards always scored a timely bucket to keep up with their opponent, as Chris Finch’s guys fell for the trap of playing rushed. At the half, the Spur still trailed by four.

The circumstances were so favorable for them with Wembanyama out that it wasn’t shocking to see the Timberwolves come out of the locker room feeling a little complacent. The energetic Spurs made them pay for it by causing turnovers, and never looked scared as they hunted matchups and attacked their defenders one-on-one. The isolation-heavy style does not characterize San Antonio, but it worked well and led to Minnesota’s players trying to do the same, with many looking to be the hero of the night, to bad results. When Kornet had to rest, the team suffered from a lack of height, but tried to make up for it with timely traps for Anthony Edwards on defense and pace and aggression on the other end. Improbably, San Antonio won the third quarter and went into the final frame up four.

The chaotic nature of the game didn’t stop until the final buzzer. Edwards went off for 16 fourth-quarter points, and both Naz Reid and Rudy Gobert had good moments on offense, which normally would have meant that the Timberwolves were fully in control. It wasn’t the case. They took the lead with a shade under five minutes to go, but the Spurs’ guards responded a few times to take it back. Even after the home team managed to extend its buffer to seven heading into the final minute, San Antonio continued to fight and got it to three with 21 seconds to go. The deciding factor on what was often a sloppy but always hard-fought matchup was a catch from Ayo Dosunmu on a long inbound pass, as the ball bounced off his leg, allowing him to control it. In the end, despite the Silver and Black’s fantastic effort without their superstar, Minnesota won Game 4 to tie the series.

Game notes

• The Wembanyama ejection is hard to talk about because he absolutely deserved it, but his frustration leading up to it is also easy to understand. Wembanyama takes a beating every game. Opposing teams have stated that it’s their goal to be as physical with him as the officials allow. He had gotten hit with an elbow in a previous play and was clearly fouled on the rebound that led to him throwing the elbow. He could have seriously hurt Reid, so he got the punishment he deserved, but, as Mitch Johnson said after the game, “at some stage, he should be protected. And if not, he’s going to have to protect himself, and, unfortunately, stuff like that happens.”
• The guard trio was terrific on Sunday, stepping up to provide scoring. Fox, Castle, and Harper combined for 68 points. They all had their struggles at times, with Fox’s inability to hit shots in the clutch being the most notable, but they all not only scored but also defended and played with the pace the team needed to have a shot.
• The forwards, on the other hand, struggled. Julian Champagnie missed all of his five threes. Keldon Johnson had three turnovers. So did Carter Bryant, who did not get a favorable whistle at all, as the officials seemed intent on reminding him that he’s a rookie. Harrison Barnes didn’t make much of an impact in his 10 minutes. They all played extremely hard, like everyone else on the team, but didn’t make plays.
• Devin Vassell had a great Devin Vassell game. Even with the three guards dominating the ball, he still managed to log 14 points and three assists while hitting big shots and making some plays on defense. Vassell has settled into a small role in which he has to pick his spots on offense and do a little bit of everything else, and he delivered in the loss.
• Luke Kornet turns into a different player when Wembanyama is not available. He wasn’t having a good postseason in a very limited role, but he gave San Antonio a strong 27 minutes in this one. There were some mistakes, but overall, a terrific “next man up” night for Kornet.
• Anthony Edwards played 40 minutes and had 36 points in 22 shots. That’s a fantastic performance in ideal circumstances, but considering he’s playing through two knee injuries and is dealing with conditioning issues, it’s just insane.

Play of the game

Dylan Harper is going to be a superstar.

Game 5: at San Antonio on Tuesday

The Spurs will look to get a match point at home. Hopefully, Victor Wembanyama will be available and not suspended.