The Oklahoma City Thunder did far more than sweep the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday night. With a 115-110 win at Crypto.com Arena, the defending champions advanced to the Western Conference Finals for a second straight season and officially ended a seven-year trend that began back in 2019.
No defending champion had made it past the second round since the Kevin Durant-era Warriors reached the Finals in 2019, per a post on X by ClutchPoints. A number of champions since then, including the Toronto Raptors, the Lakers, the Milwaukee Bucks, the Golden State Warriors, the Denver Nuggets and the Boston Celtics, all failed to reach the conference finals after winning championships.
OKC just broke a 7-year curse.
Since 2019, the defending champs have NOT made it past the 2nd round the next year… until now.
Take a look:
🏆 2019 Raptors: Champs
❌ 2020 Raptors: Lost in 2nd round
🏆 2020 Lakers: Champs
❌ 2021 Lakers: Lost in 1st round
🏆 2021 Bucks:… pic.twitter.com/RUqjJBtvWu
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) May 12, 2026
As a result, Oklahoma City is now the first team since the Warriors back in 2018 to reach the conference finals, and they undoubtedly did so in prolific fashion. The Thunder are now 8-0 in the 2026 postseason after sweeping both playoff series so far.
Regardless, the Lakers pushed Oklahoma City harder in Game 4 than at any point in the postseason. The Thunder trailed in the fourth quarter for the first time all playoffs and found themselves down five midway through the final period before Shai Gilgeous-Alexander took control late.
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The MVP favorite finished with a series-high 35 points and eight assists, scoring nine points in the fourth quarter. Filling in for the injured Jalen Williams, Ajay Mitchell exploded for a playoff career-high 28 points on 12-of-19 shooting while adding four assists and four steals.
Chet Holmgren finished with 16 points and nine rebounds, with half of his scoring coming in the fourth quarter. For the Lakers, the sweep marked one of the toughest endings of the LeBron James era in Los Angeles.
James finished with 24 points in what could potentially be the final playoff game of his career. Across 302 postseason games, it marked only the fourth playoff sweep of LeBron’s career.
Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura both tried to extend the Lakers’ season in Game 4. Reaves finished with 27 points, while Hachimura scored 25 and drilled a massive four-point play in the final two minutes that temporarily gave Los Angeles the lead.
However, the Thunder once again proved to be elusive, and will enter the conference finals with one eye on the championship once again.
The Oklahoma City Thunder did far more than sweep the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday night. With a 115-110 win at Crypto. com Arena, the defending champions advanced to the Western Conference Finals for a second straight season and officially ended a seven-year trend that began back in 2019.