LeBron vs. Father Time and History: Ranking the Final 4 West NBA Teams

LeBron James can’t do it, right?

…Right?

The Los Angeles Lakers are taking on the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western semifinals, and they’ll most likely have to do it without the NBA‘s leading scorer, Luka Doncic.

As we are down to the final four teams in the NBA Western Conference, it’s time to rank them from strongest to weakest as we head into the next round.

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1. Oklahoma City Thunder

They’re the boring answer, and they’re the correct answer.

Even if their top-10 offense isn’t anywhere near its peak form, their historically smothering defense will win the game by itself.

In an era where scoring has never been easier for teams to come by, the Thunder make the opposition bleed for every point they score.

2. San Antonio Spurs

The Spurs shouldn’t have been this good this soon, but here we are.

Although their defense overall isn’t as good as Oklahoma City’s, they do have a (gigantic) ace up their sleeve: Victor Wembanyama.

Wembanyama is the best defender in basketball and could become the greatest defender in the sport’s history. If the French giant can play at his upmost ceiling, then the Spurs might be the only team, West or East, who can beat the defending champs.

3. Minnesota Timberwolves

The Timberwolves are extremely unlikely to be champions, but they have the heart of one.

Regardless of who falls in their lineup, they’ve come up big in the clutch and shown a relentless energy that stymied the Denver Nuggets in the opening round.

While there are arguments that maybe they should be last, the fact alone that Anthony Edwards could return for the semifinals puts them third in the ranking.

4. Los Angeles Lakers

They shouldn’t have beaten the Houston Rockets without Reaves for most of the series and Doncic for the entire series, but they did.

That’s where the fairytale will end, however, as multiple reports state that Doncic is nowhere near close to returning from his hamstring injury.

LeBron James will put up a valiant stand against the Thunder, but like he was a decade ago on those undermanned Cleveland Cavaliers teams going up against the juggernaut that was the Golden State Warriors, it’ll be nowhere near enough to make it a competitive series.

James might know how to beat Father Time, but the Thunder are a different story.

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This story was originally published May 3, 2026 at 5:27 PM.