Typically, an NBA team adopts the persona of its star player. However, the Los Angeles Lakers can speak to the fact that it might not always be a good thing after losing 119-107 to the Denver Nuggets in their 2023–24 season opener. Since LeBron James moved to Los Angeles in 2018, the Lakers have never started the season on the back foot. This is because their best player, James, tends to pick up his game later in the season and doesn’t exactly get off to a strong start anymore.

It’s not exactly a streak that anyone would want, much less for a player with aspirations as high as James’, but the Lakers have gone 0–6 on season openers since the player signed him in free agency five years ago, according to ClutchPoints Twitter.

It is noteworthy to mention that the Lakers never seem to be affected by their difficult schedule when it comes to season-opening games. The Lakers have played the Los Angeles Clippers and Golden State Warriors twice apiece in the last four seasons. The Clippers have always had the Lakers beat, even though they aren’t considered real contenders these days. In the meantime, the Lakers still needed to resolve the spacing issues that Russell Westbrook’s purchase of them brought up when they played the Warriors in 2021 and 2022.

The Portland Trail Blazers setback in 2018 may have been the Lakers’ lone unjustifiable loss, yet LA was always going to face a tough opponent because the Blazers advanced to the Western Conference Finals.

That being said, this is a streak that is meaningless in the big picture. The Lakers’ 0–6 record in their first-season games hasn’t exactly served as a predictor of how the rest of the season will go. After all, the Lakers advanced all the way to the WCF in the most recent postseason and won the title in 2020. After all, a single game makes up only 1.2% of the 82-game regular-season schedule. Take heart, Lakers supporters: if these losses come against top teams, there’s no shame in continuing this questionable run.