LeBron Explains 1 Reason Lakers Lost to SGA, Thunder in NBA Playoffs in New Video with Steve Nash

Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James made a candid admission about why his team was swept by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference semifinals.

During Thursday's episode of the Mind the Game podcast, James explained to co-host Steve Nash that he felt the defending-champion Thunder simply had more talent than the Lakers, and that was the difference in the series.

"This year, we fought and we played to the maximum ability of our team. But ultimately, if we're being completely honest, we were out-talented," James said at the 8:35 mark. "We were not out-worked. They didn't out-physical us. They didn't out-smart us. I feel like we were just out-talented by OKC, they just possess so much more talent."

The Thunder had the Lakers' number all year, as they also swept the regular-season series 4-0. Oklahoma City won three of the four playoff matchups by double digits.

Los Angeles was without star guard Luka Doncic, who had missed the entire postseason while recovering from a hamstring injury. It's safe to assume that Doncic's presence would've helped the Lakers close the gap, but the series result likely would've remained the same.

James added that he's not letting himself get too down over the loss because he knows that his team wasn't at full strength.

"You can tip your cap to them, obviously," he said. "But you can't get caught up in that, especially when you know that you were under-manned, for sure."