JJ Redick Makes Honest LeBron James Admission After Lakers' Game 2 Loss

The Los Angeles Lakers battled throughout the majority of the game Thursday night in Game 2 against the Oklahoma City Thunder, but ultimately fell 125-107, despite holding a one-point lead at halftime.

The main storyline to emerge from the game after the fact certainly was the officiating with several players, as well as head coach JJ Redick sensing their frustration with some calls, as well as some things that are not being called.

Redick did not blame the loss on the refs, in fact, he made it very clear the Thunder outplayed the Lakers, however, he made a strong admission regarding LeBron James who shot just five free throws combined through the first two games, despite being quite aggressive in the paint and driving to the basket.

“LeBron has the worst whistle of any star player I’ve ever seen,” Redick said, reacting to James’ lack of calls he’s receiving.

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Redick went into more detail, noting that the Thunder currently have a few players who “foul on every possession.”

“I sarcastically said the other day they were the most disruptive team without fouling. They have a few guys that foul on every possession, and all of the good defenses do,” Redick said. “SGA get like a, I don’t even know, a touch foul on a drive. There was a stretch where like four straight possessions our guys got absolutely clobbered. Tried to make an entry pass to Jaxson and Jaylin Williams was grabbing his jersey with both arms, and [that ends up being] a turnover. They’re hard enough to play. They’re hard enough to play. You gotta be able to just call it if they foul. And they do foul.”

The Lakers entered the series already severely shorthanded without leading scorer Luka Doncic and have struggled to generate enough offense to keep pace with the defending champion Thunder.

Oklahoma City has now won both games in the series despite back-to-back performances in which Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored fewer than 25 points.

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This story was originally published May 8, 2026 at 7:43 AM.