LeBron James and Nikola Jokic had a chance to team up before the King arrived in Los Angeles.
When LeBron James entered free agency in 2018, many teams lined up for the 4x NBA MVP’s signature on the dotted line. James ultimately ended up signing with the Los Angeles Lakers as he started a new chapter of his career.
However, before James arrived in the City of Angels, he also garnered heavy interest from the Lakers’ Western Conference rivals, the Denver Nuggets.
Yes, James had the opportunity to team up with Nikola Jokic.
Nikola Jokic blossomed into a star during the 2018-19 NBA season. Prior to that, Jokic was growing steadily, but he earned his first NBA All-Star appearance, among other things in 2018.
Keeping that in mind, the Nuggets had Jokic’s approval to pursue James in hopes of contending for an NBA championship.
“With Jokic and Barton on board, the Denver Nuggets will turn their attention to one more free agent: LeBron James,” Chris Mannix posted on X. “The Nuggets have been in contact with James’s agent and will aggressively pursue a meeting.”
So, what happened? Well, James indeed met with the Nuggets, more or less. LBJ revealed the conversation he had with Josh Kroenke, part-owner and president of the Nuggets during a vacation.
“The owner of the team is a very dear friend of mine, so he discussed it a couple times to me, and also he sent me those throwback jerseys,” James revealed.
“He said ‘You’d look good in one of these.’ But we’ve been on vacation, things of that nature. We have a great friendship, but I didn’t give it much thought.”
Throughout the clip, James was holding back his chuckles. It was obvious that James never entertained the thought of playing in Denver over Los Angeles.
Imagine a duo of James and Jokic. It would have been nearly impossible to stop them. After all, with someone of Jokic’s talent, James would have had the opportunity to relax more often and focus more on the playmaking duties.
Fast forward to 2024, the Lakers and the Nuggets have met multiple times in the playoffs over the past few years. Sure, the Purple and Gold won the Western Conference Finals matchup in 2020 as they ultimately won the NBA title as well.
But since then, the Jokic-led Nuggets have made life difficult for James’ Lakers.
The Nuggets easily eliminated the Lakers from the 2023 Western Conference Finals. Most recently, the two sides locked horns in the first-round of the 2024 postseason. However, the result was the same as Denver breezed past LA.
Did James make a mistake by choosing the Lakers over the Nuggets? After all, he has seen Jokic lift three NBA MVP trophies since his move to LA.
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