All Nuggets fans, and basketball fans in general, can do is hold their breath after watching Nikola Jokic go down, writhing in pain and clutching his knee on Monday night. Spencer Jones was backpedaling on defense and stepped on Jokic’s foot, who was standing near his own basket.
The Joker went down immediately, clutching his leg in obvious pain. The injury happened just as the buzzer was sounding for halftime, so Jokic got up and limped to the tunnel with the rest of his team. But he didn’t come out for the second half, and he was quickly ruled out for the game with a knee injury.
The Nuggets say Nikola Jokić (left knee injury) is questionable to return after this: https://t.co/9zZLSOiqYt
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) December 30, 2025
Nobody wants to speculate, but this obviously didn’t look good for Jokic. Any missed time would be devastating for the Nuggets, but at this point, avoiding anything serious would be great news. Jokic will likely get an MRI, and we’ll know more in the coming days, but for now, everyone can just hope for the best.
Jokic injury would be curtains for Nuggets
The only thing that matters is Jokic’s health, but no matter the results of the MRI, this is a painful reminder of how fragile life is in the NBA. Jokic, at 30 years old, is playing the best basketball of his career and is entering pantheon discussions about the best players to ever make their way through the NBA.
At the moment, all we can do is wish and pray as we wait for updates. With any luck, this looked worse than it was, and the Joker will be back before too long. But either way, this should be a scary reminder to never take Jokic for granted and to appreciate every moment we get to watch him play the sport.
We never know when that may end and when it can all get snatched away. Without the Joker, the Nuggets would be nothing for a very long time, and it may be lifetimes before they ever get a championship window like the one that’s open.
The game with the Heat is still going on, but that feels like an afterthought. For now, we’re just holding our breath and refreshing the page like everyone else. But as soon as there’s any update, this will be the place to find it.