Nikola Jokic went down with a knee injury at the end of the second quarter in the Denver Nuggets' contest with the Miami Heat on Monday, leaving plenty of fans extremely worried about his outlook. Now, a doctor who specializes in sports injuries has shed some light on the subject and given Nuggets fans reassurance that Jokic probably avoided a serious injury.
The doctor, Brian Sutterer, MD, explained what happened on the play and gave his thoughts as a medical expert. He says that it's likely to be officially diagnosed as a hyperextended knee without as much risk for something more serious. One of the reasons he said he's so confident in Jokic not incurring something like an ACL tear is that there was not much side to side movement of the knee. Sutterer says this would have increased the likelihood of a worse injury occurring.
He also said that the way the injury took place matters a lot, too. Nuggets fans that were watching at the time saw that Spencer Jones backed up and accidentally stepped on Jokic's ankle, which in turn caused the knee to hyperextend. The fact that there was no direct contact to the knee is a positive sign, Sutterer says.
Brian Sutterer, MD suspects a more mild diagnosis for Nikola Jokic
In his video, Sutterer explains that Jokic being mostly stationary while this injury took place works in his favor as well. Had he been moving, whether that be running, jumping or something else, he says that would have significantly increased the chance for something more devastating to take place.
As for what Jokic is going to be formally diagnosed with, Sutterer can't make the call, but he can offer his best wisdom. His thought is that a bone bruise is almost certain to occur, and there's the potential for tearing of the joint capsule as well. Of course, you can't fully rule out strains or tears to the ACL, PCL or other ligaments within the knee, but he still feels those injuries are less likely.
The key phrase Sutterer used in his video should be the biggest reassurance to those following along in Denver. "This overall looks like a lower-grade, lower-severity type of hyperextension ... Really does not look too significant in terms of the degrees of hyperextension," the doctor said.
Sutterer said that we do have to be prepared for the possibility of a multi-week absence for Nikola Jokic, but hopefully it's something more in the range of one to two weeks, rather than three or four or longer. Overall, this has to feel like a very uplifting analysis for Nuggets fans, and hopefully Sutterer's prediction is correct. Ideally, we'll see number 15 back and dominating before long.