Jokic Injury: Nuggets Star Out at Least a Month | NBA News

We won’t see Nikola Jokic with the Nuggets in January. This is a certainty, after the announcement by the Denver franchise of the injury of its Serbian pivot, affected during the defeat of his team in the remake of the 2023 NBA Finals, won by Jokic’s team, on the night of Monday to Tuesday against the Miami Heat (123-147). The bronze medalist suffered from hyperextension of his left knee.

This requires the Colorado star to observe at least four weeks of rest before a “re-evaluation”, as indicated by the Nuggets. A hard blow for the latter, obviously, while Jokic is walking on water at the start of the season, with fifth place in the ranking of the best scorers in the NBA (29.6 points per game, to which we can add an average of 12.4 rebounds and 11.1 assists).

This especially does not suit the coach, David Adelman, who already has to do without Aaron Gordon (touched right hamstring) and Christian Braun (victim of a sprained left ankle), while his team is currently in third place in the Western Conference (22 wins-10 losses). Even if this remains a lesser evil, while we feared an absence for the entire end of the season for the Serb.

As an individual consequence of this significant absence, Jokic could already be out of the running for the MVP title. The Nuggets are scheduled to play 16 games in the next four weeks, but only players who have played in at least 65 of the 82 regular season games are eligible for end-of-season awards. Enough to leave the field open to the defending champion Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Thunder), while the two players seemed launched towards a new very high level duel.