After an impressive playoff run from the Play-In Tournament to the Western Conference Finals last year, the Los Angeles Lakers ultimately fell to the eventual NBA champion Denver Nuggets in four games, which caused quite a stir due to how head coach Mike Malone and superstar LeBron James reacted.
In the postgame press conference after Game 4, James shockingly mentioned that he would think about retirement during the summer, which few truly believed, as some thought he was trying to change the narrative from getting swept by the Nuggets to his immediate future, avoiding the embarrassment.
Malone took issue with James’ comments and then proceeded to take shots at the Lakers every chance he got, including during the Nuggets’ championship parade in Denver, which didn’t sit well with James or his team.
This sparked bad blood coming into the season, with the Lakers supposedly revved up to face the Nuggets, but then they proceeded to get swept again in the season series.
Ironically enough, the Lakers now have to face the defending champions in the first round while being the heavy underdog against arguably the best team in the league.
James was asked whether he was looking forward to the matchup with the Nuggets, but he deflected the notion that it is anything more than another playoff matchup, via Jovan Buha of The Athletic.
LeBron James talks Denver matchup, Nikola Jokic and playing for Team USA pic.twitter.com/NltuA1s04p
— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) April 18, 2024
Although James is doing his best not to turn this into a matchup with bad blood fueling his team, the fact of the matter is these teams don’t like one another, and that should make for some entertaining basketball.
However, the Lakers aren’t expected to put up much of a fight against the Nuggets, who appear to be the far superior team.
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