Nuggets injury updates: Nikola Jokic ‘up and down’ as Jonas Valanciunas tracking to return first
Nuggets backup big man Jonas Valanciunas is on track to return to the lineup before Nikola Jokic, coach David Adelman said Tuesday night.
Adelman described the state of Jokic’s recovery from a knee injury as “kind of up and down” before Denver hosted the Lakers. It was the team’s 12th game without him and 11th without either center. Valanciunas has been sidelined by a right calf strain. Jokic hyperextended his left knee, resulting in a bone bruise.
“Jonas has looked good, but there is a timetable to that injury. He could redo that very easily,” Adelman said. “So he feels really good right now, but we have to get him through these tests, play some 3-on-3, 4-on-4, up to 5-on-5, before we feel comfortable with him (playing). There’s always risk, but (preferably) less risk, of him to come out there. … I can’t get Jonas back and then run him into the ground. So we have to find a baseline, what’s appropriate for him when he comes back. Because immediately, he’ll be, most likely, our starting center.”
The Nuggets announced on Jan. 1 that Valanciunas would be reevaluated in four weeks, two days after Jokic underwent an MRI was given the same timeline. Both centers stayed with the team for the remainder of its seven-game Eastern Conference road trip but didn’t travel for a back-to-back in New Orleans and Dallas last week.
Adelman urged that while Valanciunas appears to be making faster progress than Jokic at this stage of their recoveries, “tomorrow could be different. And you could have a setback with the stress test that they do. You just want to make sure that we’re doing everything correctly.”
Jokic and Valanciunas are combining for 25.4 rebounds per 36 minutes, with Jokic leading the league in rebounds per game at 12.2. The Nuggets ranked last in the league in rebounding rate (45.4%) in their first 10 games without the two bigs. Adelman has been forced to resort to smaller lineups with DaRon Holmes II or Aaron Gordon as his starting center throughout January.
Yet even while dramatically undersized, Denver was 7-4 since Jokic’s injury going into the late-night clash with Los Angeles.
“I really mean this: Us winning some games has nothing to do with us holding them out,” Adelman said. “This has just been what it is. Their process has been what it is. … Those guys will get taken care of, and they’ll be back. My biggest concern is the guys I’m playing now. And I’m playing Jamal (Murray) a lot of minutes. I’m playing Tim (Hardaway Jr.) too many minutes. I played Aaron over what we thought would be our restriction to win a game. That’s the worry.”
Starting small forward Cam Johnson is also hitting the four-week mark on his recovery from a bone bruise this week. The Nuggets announced a timeline of four to six weeks for him on Christmas, but he still hasn’t been through any contact portions of practice, Adelman said Tuesday.
“He’s gone through some pace and some burst stuff,” Adelman said, “which is good to see.”
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