NFL
Hello, Denver Nuggets fans across the world. Over the last 15 hours, our hearts and minds have been going bonkers with what happened to our star, Nikola Jokic.
What Happened
In the game on Monday night, with 5 seconds remaining in the first half, the Nuggets were winning 63-61. Miami player drives the lane and puts up a shot. Spencer Jones is guarding him and steps on Nikola Jokic’s foot. You see, Jokic’s knee hyper-extends, and then you see Nikola Jokic on the ground in a fetal position holding his knee. Jokic would need help from trainers to get back to the locker room at halftime. News comes out after halftime that Jokic is questionable to return due to a knee injury.
The Nuggets would go on to get blown out by the score of 147-123. The rest of the game was the least of our worries, as our attention now turns to our MVP and Superstar Nikola Jokic.
As we went through the post-game show on Altitude and through the night, Nuggets fans wanted to know any news regarding this issue. Videos on social media are coming out with doctors breaking down what happened.
If fans were able to sleep, start waking up around 7 am, like me, waiting for the news on the MRI. With the Nuggets being on the East Coast and being 2 hours ahead of Denver time, we waited patiently for news to break.
News finally broke at 9:30 am MST that Nuggets fans wanted to hear. Shams Charania, who is an ESPN NBA insider, tweeted out…”Denver Nuggets Nikola Jokic has been diagnosed with a Hyperextension in his left knee and will miss at least four weeks.”
A big sigh of relief for the Nuggets organization and NBA fans in general across the world.
What does the next month look like
The Nuggets will be without 4 starters now, at least for Wednesday night’s game at Toronto. Murray is the only starter remaining. On that front, it hurts, but that’s what made our offseason so great. We went out and got players who can fill in the voids in the starting lineup. However, our bench got weaker.
With Jokic now being out, Jonas Valanciunas now moves into the starting rotation. Christian Braun and Aaron Gordon could be back on this road trip after the New Year.
Jokic will probably miss the next 20 games or so for the Nuggets. That takes us to around the All-Star Break for the NBA. We have games against Toronto, Cleveland, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, and Boston remaining on this long road trip. We then come home for a 2-game homestand featuring Atlanta and Milwaukee.
After those 2 games, we return on the road with trips to New Orleans and Dallas.
Followed by a 3-game homestand featuring Washington, Charlotte, and the Los Angeles Lakers for our first match-up of the season against them.
Followed by a 3-game road trip to Washington, Milwaukee, and Memphis.
We then return home for a 3-game homestand to finish the month of January off with games against Detroit, Brooklyn, and the Los Angeles Clippers.
Now, the big question is regarding that schedule. Do the Nuggets keep Jokic out til after the All-Star break to give him extra time to recover and have his return on February 19th at the Clippers?
If the Nuggets keep him out through the All-Star Break, the games Jokic will be missed include the first matchup this year against Division rival and NBA Champion Oklahoma City, at Detroit, at New York, at Chicago, home against Cleveland, and Memphis.
That Clippers game is my guess when Jokic comes back.
NO MVP this Year
Unfortunately, with Jokic missing a good month of games, it will take Jokic out of the running for any postseason awards due to the rule the NBA debuted a couple of seasons ago.
All reality, that’s ok. Nuggets fans know what Jokic means to this team, the state of Colorado, and the city of Denver. If you give any Nuggets fan a choice of either winning the MVP or another NBA Championship for the Nuggets franchise, I’m pretty sure most of the Nuggets fans would choose another NBA Championship.
Closing
Well, Nuggets fans, you can rejoice now. News is better than what it could have been. Our superstar, Nikola Jokic, will be back sooner than you know and will prove once again that he is the best player in the NBA.
Nuggets fans, take care, and I will talk to you all soon. GO NUGGETS!!!!!
