The Lakers finished their preseason with a 121-106 loss to the Nuggets at Crypto.com Arena on Friday. The game was effectively decided early. Yahoo Sports said a slow start doomed Los Angeles. Silver Screen and Roll's Karin Abcarians wrote that offensive problems to open the game put the Lakers behind and that they "never could get out of" the hole. The box score backs that up. Denver scored 36 in the first quarter to Los Angeles's 22, and the Lakers never led. Denver's largest lead was 17, and Los Angeles's was 2.
The Lakers shot 35-for-82, which is the 42.7% Abcarians cites. Denver shot 46-for-79, about 58%. The Lakers actually shot the three about as well as Denver did, at 17-for-43 (40%) against 11-for-27 (41%). The gap was inside. Denver outscored them 56-30 in the paint and forced 27 points off turnovers to Los Angeles's 16, helped by 12 steals to the Lakers' 5. Denver also out-rebounded them 45-39. Los Angeles took 43 threes on 82 shots.
Jamal Murray led Denver with 21 points, as Sportsnet noted, on 8-for-15 shooting and 5-for-5 at the line, with six assists. He missed all three of his three-point attempts. That is a small-sample dip for a player who shot 48.3% from the field and made 3.3 threes a game over 75 starts in 2026. DeMar DeRozan added 14 points off the bench, per Sportsnet, on 6-for-9 shooting. Nikola Jokic had 17 points and 8 assists in 31 minutes, but also six turnovers. Christian Braun scored 16 and was a game-best +18.
For Los Angeles, Austin Reaves scored 19 but went 5-for-11 with six turnovers and was -20. Luka Doncic had 15 points on 4-for-10 shooting with five turnovers in 19 minutes. Sandro Mamukelashvili also scored 15, and Ziaire Williams had 14 on 5-for-6 shooting in 11 minutes. Walker Kessler, the starting center, went 2-for-8 and was -21 in 31 minutes. The outlets we have do not say why the rotation looked the way it did, and none of them quote players or coaches.
The loss leaves Los Angeles 2-3 and on a two-game skid. It follows an 89-101 home loss to Golden State on Tuesday, Oct. 13. The Lakers' last win was 114-110 over Sacramento on Oct. 8. Denver is 3-2. It beat Chicago 133-128 on Oct. 11, lost 122-110 at the Clippers on Oct. 14, and has now won its last game.
Both teams play again soon. The Lakers host Golden State on Wednesday, Oct. 21, a chance to answer the Oct. 13 loss to the same opponent. Denver travels to Oklahoma City on Thursday, Oct. 22.
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