The Nuggets warmed up in slides against the Lakers because their bus carrying their shoes was late

Los Angeles traffic hit the Nuggets at the worst possible time.

Entering Saturday night, the Denver Nuggets were looking to sweep their first-round series against the Los Angeles Lakers. But after shooting just 44.8 percent from the field in a 119-108 loss, it seems even their pregame routine was thrown out of rhythm.

You see, Nuggets players were forced to weirdly use their slides during their pregame warmups. No, this wasn’t some deal about saving their legs or any kind of change in strategy. What happened was that Denver’s team bus carrying the players’ shoes was actually delayed getting to the arena, forcing the Nuggets to adapt on the fly and work with what they had, per DNVR’s Harrison Wind.

In this case, all they had there was their slides, leading to what looked like an incredibly awkward pregame warmup:

Looks like the Nuggets left something behind on their way to the arena…

The players are still waiting on their shoes as they get some shots up. pic.twitter.com/MJZaw0xd54

— DNVR Nuggets (@DNVR_Nuggets) April 27, 2024

The Nuggets’ team bus did eventually arrive, but by then, there was minimal time left for a full warmup in the players’ regular game shoes:

The fellas are warming up. Shoes and all. pic.twitter.com/ZgPjXi5v7g

— DNVR Nuggets (@DNVR_Nuggets) April 27, 2024

After the game, while he didn’t use the warmup in slides as an excuse for his team’s overall performance, Nuggets sharpshooter Michael Porter Jr. (who still dropped 27 points and 10 rebounds in the loss) admitted that not having his shoes for his usual routine did frustrate him a little because of how important that pregame process can be.

Nonetheless, he and the rest of the Nuggets are already moving forward:

The Nuggets had to either skip warmups or warmup in slides because the shoes were on the wrong bus pic.twitter.com/OTTjBYXU1g

— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) April 28, 2024