OKLAHOMA CITY — In Ziaire Williams, the rebuilding Nets took a flier on a former lottery pick as a salary dump. He’s an athletic floor-running defender whose jumper has been his weakness. But if he can keep shooting the way he has lately, their gamble might come good.

For Lakers rookie Bronny James, the game was extra special as he got reunited with Nets forward Ziaire Williams, his former teammate at Sierra Canyon School in Los Angeles. After the matchup, James and Williams exchanged jerseys and posed for a picture. The Lakers guard posted it on his Instagram story.

The 127-101 beating the Nets took from the Thunder at Paycom Center — and the way OKC has run through the entire league — is a scary reminder of just how well-poised Sunday’s foe is to dominate the NBA both today and tomorrow.

On Friday night, the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Brooklyn Nets by a score of 102-101. Austin Reaves led the team with 38 points in 37 minutes of playing time.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 27 points and 10 assists in three quarters, and the Oklahoma City Thunder blew out the Brooklyn Nets 127-101.

Williams ended Sunday's 112-111 overtime loss to the Jazz with 19 points (4-11 FG, 3-7 3Pt, 8-8 FT), six rebounds, two assists and one steal over 32 minutes. Williams moved to the starting lineup five games ago and has produced dividends for fantasy managers who decided to trust him.

Here are three Brooklyn Nets takeaways from Friday's 102-101 loss at the Los Angeles Lakers in D'Angelo Russell's return to Los Angeles.

The key for Denver is stringing together as many victories in a row as they can, and Orlando is a great test. The Nuggets might relax because they see the health of Orlando at this current moment, but last season in a similar situation, the Nuggets let go of the rope against the Magic and paid the price in crunch time.

The Brooklyn Nets have a lot of young talent on their roster, making some of the 2021 draft class the more senior members on the team. Some members from that draft class have been considered to be good choices to pick in hindsight.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander collected 27 points and 10 assists to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 127-101 win over the visiting Brooklyn Nets on Sunday.

Despite a close miss by D'Angelo Russell, the Nets lost to the Lakers 102-101 in what was supposed to be a revenge game for Russell, who had 19 points, six rebounds, and eight assists off the bench. Ziaire Williams had 15 points and Tosan Evbuomwan had 15 points and six rebounds off the bench to continue his impressive stretch for Brooklyn after being one of the team's recent Two-Way signings.

Kawhi Leonard scored 23 points, James Harden added 21 and the Los Angeles Clippers had the largest margin of victory in franchise history, routing the Brooklyn Nets 126-67 on Wednesday night.