LeBron James leaves Lakers a loser against Nuggets

Nobody’s owned Denver like the Los Angeles Lakers historically, so adding a top-five-ever player should’ve meant a decade of misery for the Nuggets. Instead, Nikola Jokic flipped the script.

James is leaving the Lakers after eight years, his longest consecutive stint for any franchise. There he won a title in 2020, became the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, made eight All-Star teams, seven All-NBA teams and was a runner-up for the 2019-20 MVP.

Thank you, LeBron 💜💛 pic.twitter.com/SW910ZVqSu

— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) June 30, 2026

In Denver, his time in L.A. might be remembered most for the Nuggets ending his last real shot to win a title. When Jokic beat the Lakers for the first time ever in the playoffs, doing so in a sweep, to reach the franchise’s first NBA Finals, where they won their first championship. Before 2023, the best the Nuggets had ever done in a season was reach the conference finals — which they did four times, losing to the Lakers in 1985, 2009 and 2020.

Overall, the Lakers were 10-10 in the regular season in games LeBron played against the Nuggets but 5-9 in the playoffs. The Lakers took the 2020 WCF en route to the bubble title; Denver swept the 2023 WCF en route to its first ring.

In total, Denver was 14-13 in the regular season when LeBron was on the Lakers, including games he sat. Most notably there was a stretch in 2023 and 2024 where the Nuggets won 13 of 14, including over 10 straight against Los Angeles — when counting the back-to-back playoff series in 2023 and 2024.

Where one of the greatest players of all time goes next is unknown — the Warriors, Cavaliers and Heat are the favorites. What is known is that even very late into his career, he created quite a history with Jokic as the two truly became contemporaries both in the record books and while actively playing as rivals. But it’s worth noting that there’s a left turn in 2018 James could’ve taken where he joined up with the Joker for the big-man’s prime instead of going to California. And that wasn’t even the first time he probably should’ve been a Nugget if you got back to the 2003 NBA Draft. This time around, the Nuggets aren’t expected to contend for the king.

With Jokic and Barton on board, the Denver Nuggets will turn their attention to one more free agent: LeBron James. The Nuggets have been in contact with James's agent and will aggressively pursue a meeting.

— Chris Mannix (@SIChrisMannix) July 1, 2018

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