The price of tickets for tonight’s Oklahoma City vs. Los Angeles Lakers game is astronomically high in the open market. This game may lead to the possibility of LeBron James surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA’s top scorer, although the odds are not in James’s favor. He needs 36 more points to reach the record, and Caesars Sportsbook has set James’ over/under for tonight’s game at only 32.5 points.
The likelihood of tonight becoming a record-setting game for James decreased when he had Monday off in Brooklyn. DraftKings currently has assigned +250 odds to tonight’s game being the one in which James will break Abdul-Jabbar’s record of 38,387 points, whereas Thursday’s home game against Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks is the favorite at -295.
James is currently 7th in the league in scoring, averaging a total of 30 points per game and has achieved a streak of at least 20 points in 35 consecutive games, the third-longest streak of his entire career. This is the first Thunder/Lakers clash of the season and James has put up an average of 28.1 points in all 34 games he has faced the Oklahoma City/Seattle franchise throughout his career.
The Lakers will hit the court for the first time tonight since missing out on a trade with the Nets for All-Star guard Kyrie Irving. Los Angeles had been the favored destination for the star due to Irving’s wish to play alongside LeBron James, yet the Nets refused to comply and instead traded the guard to the Mavericks.
The Nets reportedly requested more in exchange for Kyrie Irving than the Lakers were willing to give up, so the Lakers ended negotiations. In the end, Brooklyn got Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith, an unprotected first-round pick in 2029, and two second-round picks courtesy of the Mavericks. It appears that Joe Tsai, owner of the Nets, was not enthusiastic about Irving going to LA. James expressed his disappointment to the media in not being able to land Kyrie. “Having such great chemistry on the floor and believing he could help us win championships, it’s hard to not feel disappointed,” he said. “But I have shifted my focus back to what matters and that is this team and what it has now.”