The Oklahoma City Thunder took a 3-0 series lead over the Los Angeles Lakers and moved to the brink of the Western Conference Finals for the third time in as many seasons, with Cason Wallace giving them another layer the Lakers could not peel away. Wallace scored 16 points in Game 3, and his offense has become harder to ignore.
That matters because the Lakers have spent so much of the series focused on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander that opportunities have opened for Wallace and Ajay Mitchell. Mitchell has averaged 19.8 points on 44.4% shooting over his last five games, while Wallace’s 16-point night underlined how much Oklahoma City can still get from a player who entered the league known first for defense.
Wallace, through his three seasons in the NBA, has primarily been a defensive specialist for the Thunder, and he is likely to make an All-Defensive Team this season. But that label has not fully fit the stretch he put together between Feb. 1 and March 3, when he had five performances of at least 20 points and averaged 14.3 points, 3.8 rebounds and five assists. The Thunder also spent large portions of the season with Wallace in the starting five, and his larger offensive role came after injuries thinned the rotation around the All-Star break.
Oklahoma City has had to manage that depth issue without Jalen Williams, who has played just two games in this postseason run after suffering a hamstring strain against the Phoenix Suns. Williams’ absence has changed the shape of the offense, and the Lakers’ attention on Gilgeous-Alexander has only widened the lane for Wallace and Mitchell to punish overhelp and late rotations.
The tension for Los Angeles is that the Thunder keep finding production from places the Lakers cannot afford to chase. Wallace’s breakout is not a one-game accident, and the series has made him look less like a stopgap and more like a guard who can hurt opponents when the defense decides to live with someone else. With Oklahoma City already holding the series edge and looking ready to advance, the most troubling part for the Lakers may be that Wallace is doing this while still carrying the reputation of a defense-first player.
