Exactly one month after suffering a knee injury, Nikola Jokic is officially set to return to the Nuggets’ lineup on Friday night to face the red-hot Los Angeles Clippers. Just days ago, Shams Charania reported for ESPN that Jokic would be reevaluated in about a week, but clearly, he is good to go ahead of that timeline.
All told, the Joker missed 16 games in a row, with the team surviving, and putting forth a very solid 10-6 game without the three-time MVP. The return comes at a great time as Denver is set to face off with the Clippers on Friday night, who have won 16 of their last 19 games.
This also means Jokic should be available on Sunday when the team faces the top seeded defending champs, the Oklahoma City Thunder. They also have a back-to-back with the top two teams in the East next week, with games against the Pistons and Knicks.
Jokic now has chance to be eligible for All-NBA & MVP
With this shocking turn of fortune, Jokic now has a chance to reach the 65-game minimum to be eligible for awards. With the announcement earlier in the week, it seemed like a certainty that he would miss too many games, but thanks to this early return, if Jokic plays in every game for the rest of the season, he will have played in 66 games.
However, this means that Jokic can only miss one more game this season, and considering he has been out for a month with a knee injury, that may not be the best idea. The most important thing is still to make sure Jokic is fresh and healthy for the playoffs, and getting him some rest along the way would be a good idea.
So, while it’s exciting that he’s still technically eligible for awards, there is certainly no guarantee that he’ll end up hitting the requirement. In fact, pushing to play in every game but one this season could be a massive mistake.
Even if he does meet the threshold, he has probably missed too many games to climb back ahead of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the MVP race, but if he does get to 65, he would be a lock for an All-NBA team, and probably first-team at that.
He has made first or second team All-NBA in seven straight seasons, and he’s clearly still the best player in the league. It would be a shame to see him miss out, but with the goal of winning a title in mind, it’s for the best.