LeBron James and the shorthanded Los Angeles Lakers finished off the Houston Rockets in their 2026 NBA Playoffs first-round series on Friday night with a resounding 98-78 win in Game 6 to take the series 4-2.

Without Austin Reaves for part of the series and Luka Doncic for all the series, the Lakers entered as big +425 underdogs against the Rockets. But Kevin Durant didn’t play in five of the six games due to a variety of injuries, Reaves came back and James carried Los Angeles to the playoff series victory.

Unfortunately, the No. 1 seed Oklahoma City Thunder — after a 4-0 sweep of the No. 8 seed Phoenix Suns — have been waiting for Los Angeles and oddsmakers have installed James as the biggest playoff underdog he’s even been in his illustrious career.

The Lakers are currently +950 underdogs in the series against the Thunder, which is the biggest playoff underdog the Lakers have been at this point in the playoffs as a franchise since at least 1988 — as far back as the Sports Odds History database goes.

It’s the second-biggest underdog a James-led team has been in a playoff series. The largest was all the way back in 2006 — James’ first year in the postseason — when the Cleveland Cavaliers were 12-1 underdogs against the Detroit Pistons in the second round of the playoffs. The Pistons won that series in seven games.

The Lakers are currently 16-point underdogs at the Thunder in Game 1 at sportsbooks, which would be the biggest underdog LeBron has ever been in a playoff game.

The previous high was back in Game 1 of the 2018 NBA Finals, when James’ Cavaliers were 12.5-point underdogs and lost 124-114 in overtime to the Golden State Warriors — also known as the J.R. Smith Game.

It doesn’t help matters that the Thunder beat the Lakers all four times this season, with three of the wins coming by at least 29 points.

Can Los Angeles pull off a historic upset?

Game 1 of the series is on Tuesday night.