The Denver Nuggets have raised their championship banner and then dropped the hammer on the Los Angeles Lakers with a 119-107 victory fuelled by Nikola Jokic’s triple-double.

The giant Serb had 29 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists in the NBA’s season opener on Tuesday night, with Jamal Murray adding 21 points, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope 20, Aaron Gordon 15 and Michael Porter Jr. 12.

All of LA’s starters also scored in double figures, led by LeBron James’ 21 points in 29 minutes — his playing time is being monitored at the start of his 21st season.

Taurean Prince scored 18 points on his Lakers debut, Anthony Davis had 17 points – all in the first half – Austin Reaves 14 and D’Angelo Russell 11.

LA trailed by 18 early but trimmed that deficit to 63-54 at halftime and used a 13-0 run spanning the third and fourth quarters to pull within 87-84 before Aaron Gordon stopped the run with a three-pointer.

The Lakers never got closer.

After James’ basket gotthem within 103-96 with just over five minutes remaining, the Nuggets called timeout and came out of it with a 10-3 run featuring triples by Murray and Porter to put the LA away.

Denver received their gold, diamond-encrusted championship rings in a pre-game ceremony. Coach Michael Malone held his up high, grabbed the mic and hollered, “Last year was amazing. We got our ring. Who wants another? Let’s go get it!”

Jokic followed up back-to-back MVP seasons by leading the Nuggets to their first NBA title in their 30th postseason appearance, but the Lakers, Phoenix, Milwaukee and Boston have all got considerably better in the off-season.

Charles Barkley, an 11-time NBA All-Star and TV presenter, thinks the Nuggets will have a tough time repeating, but noted Jokic could be the great equaliser.

“The advantage they got is their best player is a robot. He’s not going to be caught up in extracurricular” distractions,” Barkley said.