Good morning. Let’s basketball.

The Amateur; Edgar Degas; 1866

The modern history of the Denver Nuggets begins during an ad for a Taco Bell’s ill-fated Quesarito. A fitting precursor for triumphs borne.

The second act of that history begins in 2018-19, Nikola Jokic’s first All-Star campaign, the year the Nuggets start making the playoffs every year. The Nuggets beat the Spurs (of DeMar DeRozan, LaMarcus Aldridge and Derrick White vintage) in seven, then lost a heartbreaker to the Blazers in seven. There was a nature about the Nuggets in that disappointing finish, a nature of being outmatched but relatively unbothered.

It happened again in 2019-20, in the bubble. The Nuggets rallied behind Jamal Murray in an epic face-off with Donovan Mitchell that went seven. Murray and Jokic levitated during an epic face-off with the Clippers — a healthy Clippers, I might add — that went seven. And then the Nuggets fell to the Lakers in the West finals with LeBron reigning en route to a fourth Finals MVP and Anthony Davis shooting better than he ever had before. The Nuggets got further than ever before, and despite the disappointment of falling short of a debut in the NBA Finals, they seemed unbothered.

In 2020-21, the team swung a big, over-the-hump trade for Aaron Gordon as Michael Porter Jr. turned into a reliable scorer. Then Murray almost immediately tore his ACL. Jokic won his first MVP, and Denver still made the second round. But the Nuggets were then swept by the Suns. This time, Jokic actually did seem bothered.

Murray missed the 2021-22 season. MPJ actually missed most of it, too. Jokic still won his second consecutive MVP, and the Nuggets still made the playoffs, getting punted out in the first round by the Warriors. There were no expectations for this team without Murray and MPJ, and yet the team succeeded, unbothered.

Then the Nuggets rampaged through the 2022-23 season. Jokic could have won a third straight MVP, if not for a superlative season from Joel Embiid. There were two moments where Jokic seemed bothered during this season. First, during the All-Star draft, when it seemed to be on the table that Jokic would be the final starter picked.

The Joker was not going to let LeBron James draft Lauri Markkanen over him, even if it meant LeBron mispronouncing his name in front of a national audience. This is understandable pride taking over Jokic’s body and forcing the issue. (He might have been annoyed it took so long to draft him in the first place.)

The second moment in which the Nuggets seemed bothered: Jokic again, the Suns again.

Never forget this hilarious moment.

But actually, later this game — which ended up being a 53-4-11 night for Jokic in a Suns win to tie the series — the MVP screamed at his teammates in the huddle, a relatively rare sight.

In the next game of the series, Jokic invaded the Suns’ impromptu huddle and Kevin Durant shoved him out.

The Nuggets went on to win the series convincingly, swept the Lakers in the West finals and easily dispatched the Heat in the NBA Finals to win the title. From the time of taking control of the Phoenix series, Jokic and the Nuggets seemed completely unbothered … until Jokic learned he couldn’t fly back to Serbia immediately after receiving the Finals MVP because of the necessary championship parade.

He later recanted.

In any case, the Nuggets had their ring ceremony on Tuesday night before facing a team that the league and certain sectors of the media want to be the Nuggets’ chief rival: the Los Angeles Lakers. It makes sense. The Lakers have the biggest fanbase in basketball, the biggest star of the 21st century, a star big man that can theoretically bother Jokic. The teams are 1-1 in recent high-stakes playoff battles.

But despite the readymade narrative, the Nuggets are, at this point, completely unbothered by the Lakers. Denver has now won six straight against L.A. On Tuesday, Jokic had a breezy 29-13-11.

Murray looked like the second best player on the court, a bad sign for the Lakers given that Jokic is so far ahead. Denver’s bench, which is the biggest worry for the franchise other than health, held up totally unbothered against a Lakers reserve unit that is supposed to be a strength. AD, a dark horse preseason MVP candidate, got torched by the Joker and did not score in the second half.

The Nuggets are champions, and the Lakers are not the Nuggets’ chief rival. That honor goes to the only team that gets under Jokic’s skin, the only team that seems to bother the Joker and the Nuggets: the Phoenix Suns. And I have a feeling that that’s where all of this is leading again. And I have a feeling Jokic and the Nuggets are unbothered by the specter of the Suns after what happened in Games 5 and 6 last spring.

Speaking of the Suns …

Scores

Lakers 107, Nuggets 119 | Full game highlights

Suns 108, Warriors 104 | Full game highlights
It’s Game 1 of 82. You don’t want to overreact. But a road win in San Francisco without one of your three stars — Bradley Beal, back pain, oof — is huge. Devin Booker shredded.

The Suns were my preseason title pick, so I’m not exactly surprised they looked good in their debut, even against a quality team that went 64-18 at home over the past two seasons. A couple things that stood out:

• The Suns’ pace, especially in the first half, was a nice wrinkle that figures to make their offense even more unstoppable. You wonder if that is one of Phoenix’s anti-Denver wrinkles: try to goad them into a track meet, since they (the Nuggets) are especially brilliant in the half-court.

• The Suns won a defensive struggle against a good team on the road. That’s a pretty good sign for a team that figures to be top-5 in offense.

• Josh Okogie is a great fit with the starters, not just because of his defense but his activity on the offensive glass. If you give Booker and Kevin Durant multiple bites at the nectarine … watch out. I think this means that Grayson Allen needs to go to the bench when Beal returns.

• Jusuf Nurkic was all Kevon Looney could handle. The idea that the Warriors would go smaller with a Draymond Green-Andrew Wiggins frontcourt against a Nurkic-Durant frontcourt to keep Chris Paul (who was extremely Chris Paul in his Warriors debut with the exception of inefficient shooting) seems completely untenable. But the Warriors do always seem to find a way to deal with things.

• Drew Eubanks got the back-up center reps in Game 1, and it started truly awful: two moving screens, another turnover, missing out on multiple defensive rebounds. But he came around and settled in and actually provided some good defensive possessions. The bench is clearly Phoenix’s most glaring weakness. If Eubanks is a mid-tier back-up center, that helps a lot. Especially since higher-than-usual defensive activity for Nurkic could lead to foul trouble with some frequency.

And one note on the Warriors:

• Having Gary Payton II from the jump this season is going to be a huge help. Sure, he went 0/5 from the floor with 1 point. But he does every single little thing a team like the Warriors needs from a wing.

  Good Morning It's Basketball is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

  Upgrade to paid

Schedule

It’s opening night for most of the rest of the league! Everyone but the Bucks and Sixers and everyone who played Tuesday.

All times Eastern. The League Pass Cup games get a 🏆 next to them. Bolded games are nationally televised. All other games are on League Pass.

Hawks at Hornets, 7
Wizards at Pacers, 7 🏆
Celtics at Knicks, 7, ESPN
Rockets at Magic, 7 🏆
Cavaliers at Nets, 7:30
Pistons at Heat, 7:30
Timberwolves at Raptors, 7:30
Thunder at Bulls, 8
Pelicans at Grizzlies, 8
Kings at Jazz, 9
Mavericks at Spurs, 9:30, ESPN
Blazers at Clippers, 10:30

Links

Full Nuggets ring ceremony.

Adam Silver did a live 10-minute pregame interview with the NBA on TNT crew. Huge credit to Charles Barkley for asking the commissioner about what the league is doing about serious domestic violence charges against NBA players.

Regardless of whether Silver was prepared for this question (it was not scripted, apparently, which implies that the other topics were), the statement that “the consequences are enormous” is simply untrue by any standard. Miles Bridges is effectively suspended for 10 games after pleading guilty to felony domestic violence. The “time served” argument is pure baloney because he was not under contract last season. You can’t serve a work suspension when you’re unemployed! This should go without saying.

Marc Stein previews the season with the help of Strat-O-Matic.

Tom Haberstroh on Beal and Draymond sitting for opening night and the data on stars missing games.

Jared Weiss in The Athletic on the Marcus Smart era in Memphis. Smart says he found out about the trade from the media, not the Celtics. Oof.

Pablo Torre finds out why so many athletes (including DeMar DeRozan, GP2 and LaMarcus Aldridge) have tattoos of The Joker.

Share

Jared Dubin’s season predictions.

Ben Thompson with some important questions about why the NBA thinks it’s going to triple its media rights revenue given all the problems with corporate media right now.

Mike D. Sykes, II on the demand for an A’ja Wilson signature shoe … not just from fans, but from LeBron.

Kevin Durant tribute video in Golden State. Just hours after Durant left the Warriors, team governor Joe Lacob said that no player will ever wear No. 35 for Golden State again so long as he’s in charge.

Shout out to Dan Devine for his new podcast Devine Intervention! Dan is perennially on my first team All-Blog.

Paul George retracts his previous comments implying that Victor Wembanyama is overhyped. Hilarious. The wonder that NBA stars are expressing with regards to Big Vic is so joyful.

Speaking of Wembanyama, here’s a piece from The Ringer’s Isaac Levy-Rubinett on why this particular No. 1 pick is unlike anything San Antonio has experienced with its prior No. 1 picks.

Zach Lowe’s tier rankings for the entire league.

Howard Beck on the broader importance or not of the Giannis Antetokounmpo extension.

First morning of the regular season is complete. Back at it Thursday with the first looooong Scores section. Be excellent to each other.