All Lakers Expert Predictions For Opening Night Denver-Los Angeles WCF Rematch

The 2023-24 NBA season gets under way tonight!

Tonight, your Los Angeles Lakers will suit up for their first meeting against the reigning champion Denver Nuggets since being eliminated in a 2023 Western Conference Finals sweep, in the opening game of the 2023-24 NBA season.

Ageless wonder LeBron James will tip off his 21st season in the league, a feat matched by only five other players. He will be the first active Laker to ever achieve this. 30-year-old Anthony Davis, now firmly established as probably the player with the highest ceiling on this team, looks to return to his first All-Star game in three years while reasserting his standing as one of the NBA's best big men.

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Meanwhile, having firmly established himself as the best player in the league with an impeccable run to Denver's first title before scurrying home to tend to his horses, two-time MVP Nikola Jokic returns to defend his crown, as sidekick point guard Jamal Murray hungers to make his first All-Star team.

Our experts Noah Camras, Alex Kirschenbaum and Ricardo Sandoval weigh in below:

1. Who will be LA's high scorer off the bench? 

Noah: The Lakers are entering the 2023-24 season as deep as they’ve been in a long time. Breakout postseason scorer Rui Hachimura is leading the charge off the bench, but he’s joined by the likes of Gabe Vincent, Christian Wood, Jaxson Hayes, Cam Reddish and Max Christie, among others. One of Hachimura, Vincent or Wood should lead the bench scoring, but in this one I’ll go with Rui, who averaged just over 15 points a game in the WCF against Denver last season.

Alex: Gabe Vincent has shown in the preseason that he can score in bunches, on occasion. He, not starter D'Angelo Russell, is LA's best two-way point guard and fully deserving of the starting role. Look for him to prove it early by hunting for his shot more often than normal.

Ricardo: The Lakers are as loaded as they have been during the LeBron James and Anthony Davis era, so you can’t go wrong with this. However, I’m going with someone who knows the system already and who has looked comfortable coming off the bench in purple and gold, and that is Rui Hachimura. Hachimura has been a revelation for the Lakers, and he should pick up right where he left off for the Lake show.

2. Which LA bigs beyond Anthony Davis will Darvin Ham stick on Nikola Jokic? 

Alex: Darvin Ham opted to have forwards James and Hachimura cover Jokic for long stretches of LA's unsuccessful Western Conference Finals series against Denver, while avoiding versatile-but-skinny four Jarred Vanderbilt (out hurt tonight) or backup center Wenyen Gabriel. Deep-bench reserve five Tristan Thompson had a nice moment against Jokic, but it really was just a blip on the radar. Also he's back in Cleveland now.

Anyway, LA totally revamped its frontcourt this offseason, adding Christian Wood, Taurean Prince, Jaxson Hayes and Cam Reddish. Hayes has the size and strength to stay with Jokic for short stretches, though he's still pretty raw. Otherwise, I think Hachimura may get another crack at it. I'd imagine Ham avoids this matchup for Wood.

Ricardo: The toughest task in the NBA heading into this season will be stopping, or even containing, Nikola Jokic. Jokic is the best player in the league, and that will be everyone’s defensive focal point. It’s no secret Anthony Davis will be on him the majority of the game, but to take the load off AD, I think that will be Hachimura. We saw Rui guard Jokic in the Western Conference Finals, and he did an OK job. It may not be ideal, but Christina Wood is still a liability, and Jaxson Hayes may be the third-best option outside of AD and Rui based on size.

Noah: I mean it’s going to have to be Jaxson Hayes, right? Christian Wood is a below-average defender and Jarred Vanderbilt (who’s too small for Jokic anyway) is out. Rui may get his opportunities in a small-ball lineup but it’s probably going to be AD and Hayes trying to slow down the reigning Finals MVP.

3. Which new Laker will have the best night? 

Ricardo: The Lakers refined around the edges, just like how they needed to this offseason. There are a ton of new players to look forward to, but the one who will perform the best against the defending champs is the player who lost to them in the NBA Finals, Gabe Vincent. Vincent is the new Lakers' backup point guard and will be tremendous for the team. He is a career 34% three-point shooter and could be a pesky defender for the purple and gold. He is my pick for the new Laker to have the best night in, hopefully, a win.

Noah: Love this question because there’s a lot of new talent on this Lakers squad. Gabe Vincent came over to shoot the lights out, but we know what happens when shooters put on that Lakers jersey. Hopefully he doesn’t get that curse, but I want to see a big game out of Christian Wood off the bench in his Lakers debut. Expect to see some great minutes from Taurean Prince (who’s starting) and Jaxson Hayes, too. Cam Reddish may be the odd man out of the rotation for now after his poor preseason play.

Alex: Yeah, whoever wrote this question is a genius. While new signing Gabe Vincent will enjoy the biggest scoring night off the bench, I think overall Taurean Prince will show the kind of excellent two-way fluidity that will highlight why he was such a terrific free agent get for Rob Pelinka's front office. He may score less than Vincent, but he'll do so quite efficiently, with a great shot profile, and he'll be able to competently cover whichever jumbo-sized forward is going off between Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr.

4. Can the Lakers cover tonight's spread (Nuggets by -5)?

Noah: Give me the Lakers to cover, but I don’t know if they find a way to get the win in a raucous Denver arena as they hang the championship banner. The Lakers have lost their last six Opening Night games, their last win coming in 2016 against the Houston Rockers. They seem to like slow starts.

Alex: Can they? Yes. Will they? No. To be fair, Denver feels thinner now depth-wise, as the team hopes for internal improvement from its youth to supplant the free agent departures of its top two bench players this summer (Bruce Brown to the Indiana Pacers, Jeff Green to the Houston Rockets). Los Angeles, on the other hand, is much deeper now, thanks to those aforementioned signings. LA seems highly motivated to show that it's ready for a playoff rematch, at least if you parse players' recent statements to the press. But the Nuggets' first five is so elite, and so massive, that I think Denver could prove tough for this LA bunch to figure out right away.

Ricardo: The Lakers most certainly can. LA has lost its last six season openers by an average of 10.5 points while averaging 109.3 points through that stretch. The numbers may not be in their favor, but this rejuvenated Lakers team is hungry and will bring the boom against the defending champions, who have talked a little bit too much this past offseason. It will be a fun one, as the road to 18 starts tonight!

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