Ranking the 6 buzzer-beater losses of the LeBron-era Lakers

For the second night in a row, the Los Angeles Lakers were involved in a buzzer-beater finish. Unlike Wednesday's game, which ended on a LeBron James tip-in, this one didn't go the Lakers' way, as Josh Giddey pulled up from halfcourt and sent L.A. to its fourth loss in five games.

This is LeBron's seventh season in L.A., and the ninth time since arriving that the purple and gold have been involved on a buzzer-beater. Three have gone the Lakers' way, while six have not.

While the wound from Giddey's shocking dagger is still fresh, let's take a look back at all six of those losses and rank them according to which was the most heartbreaking.

6. Moe Harkless ends the Lakers' season and Luke Walton's tenure as head coach (April 9, 2019)

LeBron's first season in Hollywood didn't go according to script. He missed 27 games with a groin injury that he suffered on Christmas Day, and his supporting cast was reminiscent of his early days in Cleveland when he had little to no help.

The Lakers were already eliminated from playoff contention by time the final game of the season arrived, which meant most fans already had their sights set on the offseason. It would have been nice to go out with a win, but Moe Harkless had other ideas, as he knocked down a corner three with no time left to help the Blazers secure the No. 3 seed.

This day was actually remembered more for the fact that Magic Johnson resigned as president of basketball operations just over an hour before tipoff, setting into a motion a chain of events that saw the team part ways with head coach Luke Walton and replace him with Frank Vogel.

5. Maxi Kleber drops the Lakers to the edge of the play-in (March 17, 2023)

The Lakers made it all the way to the Western Conference Finals in 2023, but as the regular season was winding down, it wasn't even a guarantee that they would make the playoffs. Kleber's dagger dropped L.A. to 34-37 and just barely hanging onto 10th place in the standings, and to make it worse, he did it in front of the Lakers' home crowd.

In an improbable twist, this heartbreaking loss seemed to wake the Lakers up. They rolled off a 9-2 record the rest of the way, then beat the Grizzlies and Warriors in six games each before running into the buzzsaw that was the eventual champion Nuggets.

4. Bogdan Bogdanovic kickstarts the Lakers' downward spiral in LeBron's first year in L.A. (December 27, 2018)

Long before he nearly ruined LeBron's Paris Olympics in the Men's Basketball semifinals as a member of the Serbian national team, Bogdan Bogdanovich wrecked the Lakers' first game after they lost LeBron to the groin injury mentioned above.

Kyle Kuzma scored a game-high 33 points and the Lakers led by 15 with under seven minutes left, but it wasn't enough to overcome the Kings' furious charge back, which culminated with Bogdanovich scoring the final three of his 23 points with no time left.

3. Andrew Nembhard puts the finishing touches on a 17-point Pacers comeback (November 28, 2022)

Blowing a big lead is a theme of many of the Lakers' buzzer-beater losses, and they led by 17 with under 10 minutes left in this one. In a wild back-and-forth final 40 seconds that saw Tyrese Haliburton tie the game with a layup and LeBron seize the lead back with a driving floater, it was rookie Ryan Nembhard who stole the game for Indiana after Haliburton found him for his 14th assist of the game.

Nembhard's winner was eerily similar to Kleber's just a few months later, except he made his right in LeBron's grill. This was while Russell Westbrook was still on the team, and though he actually had one of the best games of his short Lakers career with 24 points on 10-18 shooting, he was traded away between this shot and Kleber's game-winner.

2. Josh Giddey's 47-footer shocks the Lakers for their fourth loss in five games (March 27, 2025)

If we're going by most shocking buzzer-beaters, Josh Giddey's thunderbolt from Thursday night would be number one. Just like in the Nembhard game, the Lakers led by 17, but whereas the Pacers fought back to take a lead before the final moments, the Lakers had this game won several times over.

Austin Reaves made two free throws to put L.A. up five with 12.1 seconds to go, then all the craziness happened. Patrick Williams hit a 3 two seconds later, then Giddey stole LeBron's inbound pass and immediately hit Coby White for his fifth three of the night. Reaves answered by driving for a layup with just over three seconds left to put the Lakers back up by one.

The Bulls had used their last timeout before the Williams 3, so they couldn't advance the ball to the frontcourt. No matter, as Giddey inbounded the ball to Williams and then got it right back, then stepped into the same shot that has won many college students a scholarship on College Gameday.

The loss is a crushing blow for the Lakers, who are inching towards the danger zone of the play-in with only nine games remaining.

1. Jamal Murray puts the Lakers down 2-0 in the first round of the playoffs (April 22, 2024)

Buzzer-beaters hurt, but playoff buzzer-beaters hit different, which is why Jamal Murray's shot to beat the Lakers in Game 2 of last year's first-round playoff series has to be at the top of this list.

Once again, the Lakers blew an enormous lead, this time of 20 points, and it happened in a game they desperately needed after falling behind 1-0. This was also their 10th straight loss to Denver since they were swept in the regular season and in the playoffs the previous year.

Murray knocked the shot down over the outstretched arm of L.A.'s best defender, Anthony Davis, and poor AD ended up tripping into the Nuggets bench as Murray's teammates mobbed him on the floor.

To add even more insult to injury, Murray finished what he started in Game 2 by hitting the series-clincher with four seconds left in Game 5, knocking LeBron out in the first round for the first and only time of his career.