The outrage was caused by a play that ended in a poster dunk on LeBron James – who nearly suffered another embarrassing moment in the second half

IT hasn’t taken long for NBA fans to claim the league is rigged.

The Los Angeles Lakers faithful flooded social media with furious posts on Opening Night, claiming the Denver Nuggets “cheated” in their 119-107 loss over the Purple and Gold.

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Los Angeles Lakers fans raged after Aaron Gordon seemingly grabbed the rim before making a dunk over LeBron James in the Denver Nuggets’ 119-107 winCredit: NBA // ESPN // twitter/LakeShowYo

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NBA rules state that Gordon committed an illegal assist in scoring violation if he used the rim to make the buckerCredit: 2023 Getty Images
The questionable play saw LeBron James getting posterized by Aaron Gordon, only fuelling the outrage.

The Nuggets charged down the court in transition after a missed layup from Austin Reaves at 73-67 in the third quarter.

James ended up defending a 2-on-1 play with Jamal Murray, who had the ball, to his right and Gordon on the left.

Murray then lobbed the ball to the Nuggets forward for an alley-oop finish.

But TNT cameras would later show that before Gordon dunked the ball, he seemingly grabbed the rim with his right hand, which qualified as an illegal assist in scoring violation, per the NBA rulebook.

“A player may not assist himself in an attempt to score by using any part of the rim, net, backboard or basket support to lift, hold or raise himself,” the rulebook states.

Lakers fans quickly started to rage while posting snaps and videos of the play on X – adding Reaves seemed to have been fouled on the missed layup attempt that launched Denver in transition.

“NBA is rigged,” one wrote.

“I’m not exaggerating when I say this sequence should get an NBA ref fired,” another added.

“Refs really letting Nuggets CHEAT. Lakers don’t stand a chance,” a third said.

“The league is rigged against the Lakers,” one wrote.

But other NBA fans pointed out that the no-call couldn’t have impacted the play since Los Angeles lost by double digits.

The Nuggets led by as many as 18 points during the Tuesday clash, during which James seemed to have suffered another embarrassing moment.

Reggie Jackson’s fake-out on a successful 3-point attempt appeared to have caused the four-time NBA champion to fall early into the second half.

But it later turned out that Jackson tripped the Lakers star up by stomping on his foot before making the shot.