Nikola Jokić Says Nuggets Will Be Facing 'New' Lakers Team in 2023 WCF

When the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Lakers meet in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals on Tuesday, it will be their first matchup since Jan. 9.

Nuggets star Nikola Jokić told reporters on Monday that he's aware that this Lakers team will be drastically different from the one they faced months ago.

"We didn't play with this kind of Lakers [team]," Jokić said. "So this is going to be basically a new team for us. Probably everything is new, everything is different. They're playing amazing in these playoffs. Since [the trade] deadline, they're playing really well."

Denver and Los Angeles split the regular-season series 2-2, but the Nuggets were victorious in their most recent meeting. However, that Lakers team still included the likes of Russell Westbrook, Patrick Beverley, Kendrick Nunn, Juan Toscano-Anderson and Thomas Bryant. Los Angeles made multiple deals prior to the trade deadline to replace them with Rui Hachimura, D'Angelo Russell, Jarred Vanderbilt, Malik Beasley and Mo Bamba.

It was just three years ago that the Nuggets lost to the Lakers in five games in the Western Conference Finals and Los Angeles went on to win the 2020 NBA championship. When asked about what he learned from that series, Jokić replied: "To be honest, nothing. I don't remember it."

Denver head coach Michael Malone said he believes the two-time MVP has grown both on and off the court since the last time these two teams met in the postseason.

"Nikola has just to me been a definition of greatness for a while now," Malone said. "The consistency in which he plays at, the level he plays at is just you marvel at sometimes. [But] he's changed. He's married, he's a father, he's matured. I'm sure the game has continued to slow down for him. But he was great in the bubble."

Jokić is coming off a special performance in the conference semifinals against the Phoenix Suns in which he averaged 34.5 points, 13.2 rebounds and 10.3 assists while shooting 59.4 percent from the field. He believes the Lakers should be ready to face a different team than the one they defeated in 2020.

"We are more experienced," Jokić said. "We have been there before. We are maybe a little bit more, not focused, [but playing in] different environments [than the bubble]. So I think we are just experienced, playing a little bit more together."