Lakers Advised To Tank Play-in Game vs Pelicans To Avoid Nikola Jokic By Ex-NFL Star

The Los Angeles Lakers concluded their final regular season game against the New Orleans Pelicans a few hours ago. Having already won 7 of their last ten matchups, the Lakers maintained their momentum as they defeated their rivals by scoring 124-108. The contest between the two teams is not over yet, as they will once again clash during the Play-In Tournament on Tuesday. If LeBron James and his roster manage to repeat their success, they will have the chance to face off against Nikola Jokic’s Denver Nuggets. While many NBA enthusiasts would highly anticipate the game, a former NFL star believes the Lakers would be better off not competing against the current 2nd seeding team.

A couple of hours ago, former Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Emmanuel Acho took to his official Tiktok account to highlight an opinion to his followers. He kicked things off by stating that what he was about to say was the “dumbest smart sports take you will hear all day”. Referencing the recent basketball updates, Acho described the Los Angeles Lakers should lose their first play-in game against the Pelicans since winning would place them against a team they are not ready to handle.

“The Lakers are 0 and 8 vs the Nuggets in their last eight games,” Acho reminded his viewers. “They haven’t beat them in eight consecutive games, including getting swept in the playoffs last year”.

By this logic, if the Lakers were to only secure a win in their second play-in game, the team they would have to face is the Oklahoma City Thunder. “The Thunder, they don’t have size,” Acho continued. “The Nuggets, that’s all they’ve got is size.”

As highlighted above, the Lakers have not always had the best of luck when going up against Nikola Jokic and Co, as the last time they won a game against the Nuggets was in December 2022. The pressure to do well against them is getting to the LA team, and even LeBron James did not hide away from highlighting his disappointment with the losing streak. During their recent loss in early March, LeBron discussed how the Nuggets “have our number” and how his roster still can’t figure out where they are going wrong.

“We haven’t beaten them in quite a while, and it’s always kind of the fourth quarter either the last six minutes or last few minutes of the game where they make plays,” said LeBron. “We don’t make plays, and that could be frustrating on its own right.”

Nikola Jokic’s stats vs the Lakers this season

Given that they are the defending champions of the current season, it makes sense for the Denver Nuggets to put on a satisfactory show. However, for them to rise to the 2nd seed on the Western Conference points chart is an achievement in itself. If there is one person who can take the credit for the franchise’s success over the Lakers, it is Nikola Jokic.

The Nuggets have clashed against the Lakers three times this season. In those games, the 29-year-old Serbian player had accumulated an average score of 29.3 points, 12 rebounds, and 9 assists. While his average three-pointer percentage of 37.5% was a bit low, his field goal percentage stood at 55.2%, and his field throws were even higher at 80%.

The first Lakers-Nuggets clash of the season also served as the season-opening game. ‘The Joker’ took the lead and dropped 29 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists. His performance allowed him to add another record in the history books by becoming the third reigning Finals MVP to open the season with a triple-double, the other two being Magic Johnson and LeBron James. While LeBron overshadowed the second clash, becoming the first-ever NBA player to record 40,000 overall points, Jokic still managed to turn the night in his favor by helping Michael Porter Jr. and other offensive scorers through his 24.

What do you think the next Lakers-Nuggets clash will turn out to be like? Let us know in the comments down below.