NBA news: Lakers playoff threat, Kevin Durant warning to Warriors, LeBron James surprise

Lakers under new threat

The Memphis Grizzlies are a real threat in the Western Conference.

The Grizzlies are currently the shock No 1 seed with a 12-5 record with the defending NBA champions Golden State Warriors having slipped to No 5 due to a four-game losing streak.

And the Los Angeles Lakers – who are in seventh – and their fellow playoff contenders have been warned not to underestimate Memphis by Paul Pierce.

The retired forward told NBA GameTime: “Memphis, they’re surprising today, but I think they’re for real. 

“We don’t talk about them enough – [Marc] Gasol, Mike Conley, these guys are having great years. 

“I don’t expect them to be the No 1 seed when the end of the year comes. But I believe they’re a playoff team. 

“Before the season you wouldn’t have picked the Memphis Grizzlies as a playoff team. Then you look at the bottom, you see Sacramento [at No 10] are two-and-a-half games out of first place.”

Kevin Durant warning 

The Golden State Warriors will still be the best team in the NBA if they lose Kevin Durant this coming summer – but it will boost the chances of the competition. 

That’s according to Nick Wright.

Durant can opt out of the final year of his contract with Golden State and has been linked with a free agency move to the Los Angeles Lakers or the New York Knicks among other teams.

The back-to-back MVP is seriously considering his future and has had a recent bust-up with team-mate Draymond Green.

And Wright insists the Warriors will no longer be far and away the best in the league if they lose Durant.

He said on First Things First on Fox Sports: “I think if and when – and it’s more when than if – Durant leaves the Warriors, this team minus Durant are still a championship contender. 

“I do not think the Warriors who were a contender before Durant got there, if they lose him all of a sudden go to that next tier of teams. 

“They just join, as Kerr was talking about, they will once again be in the real NBA where there’s a half-dozen teams that have a real shot at a championship as opposed to -250 favourites against the entire rest of the league combined. [It would be a] Little more compelling.”

LeBron James surprise

NBA insider Stephen A. Smith insists he is not surprised by LeBron James and the Lakers’ recent improvement.

Having started the season 2-5, they have since won eight of their last 10 games to climb up the West and into No 7.

And their rise is no shock to Smith, who told Get Up! on ESPN: “You talking about the Lakers being a pretty good team? Didn’t someone right next to you come on this show was talking about the conference finals? 

“That happened to be me – I’m not surprised at all! It’s LeBron James, LeBron James leading a team and you’ve got long, athletic, youthful bodies around you. 

“And by the way, there’s been some drop-off in the Western Conference. We see the Golden State Warriors struggling a little bit, we saw Portland get blown out by 43 to the Greek Freak [Giannis Antetokounmpo] in Milwaukee.

“We’ve seen Oklahoma City struggle at least initially, don’t even get me started on the Houston Rockets and what their struggles have been. And of course Utah as well. 

“These are the kind of things I pointed to – the acquisition of LeBron to the Western Conference along with the slight dissipation on a part of everything else across the board led me to believe the Lakers had a chance. Lo and behold, here they are. I’m so surprised!”