In recent years, every time the Nuggets and Lakers meet up it’s a big game, and Saturday night’s showdown is no exception. Denver enters the night on a nine-game winning streak, seeking the first 10+ game streak of the Jokic era. They’ve bumped their record up to 37-19 on the season and moved into second place in the Western Conference.
The Lakers are just 2-2 in their last four games, but they’re still 33-21 on the season and holding strong in fifth place in the West. More importantly, they just executed a massive and shocking blockbuster trade which saw the team add Luka Doncic ahead of the NBA trade deadline just a couple of weeks ago.
But Doncic was dealing with a hamstring injury for his last few weeks with the Mavericks and he hasn’t looked like himself yet in LA. He’s clearly playing through some issues and the team held him out of Thursday night’s win in Portland.
Doncic and LeBron both probable to play Saturday night in Denver
Luckily, the stars should all be out for this marquee matchup on national television. LeBron James and Luka Doncic are both officially listed as probable due to injury management; Doncic for his hamstring and James for his foot (an injury that caused him to miss the All-Star Game last weekend).
Both superstars are expected to be in action so the Lakers should be at full stretch to face their nemesis, the Nuggets. We’ll see how healthy Doncic actually is and if the Lakers can find a way to maximize him and James together.
Nuggets poised to expose Lakers’ lack of size
The bigger issue may be LA’s lack of size. Since trading Anthony Davis in the Doncic deal and rescinding the Mark Williams trade, the Lakers are jarringly thin in the frontcourt. They’ve been starting Jaxson Hayes and mixing in recently-signed Alex Len off the bench while also going small for stretches.
This hasn’t been a complete disaster thus far, but it has been a clear weakness and that’s against the likes of the Hornets, Blazers, and Jazz. It is not a recipe for success against playoff-caliber competition and it’s definitely not going to work against Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets.
If Doncic and James can mesh and hit their strides, the Lakers are going to be a tough out and their offense may be damn near unstoppable. But until they figure something out in the frontcourt - which isn’t happening this season - it’s hard to take this team seriously as a threat to the Nuggets.