The Nuggets were bracing for more tough news, and they got it on Thursday, as the team announced that Jonas Valanciunas will be re-evaluated in four weeks after suffering a calf strain on Wednesday night. Big Val was starting and replacing hte injured Nikola Jokic for the first time, doing an admirable job with 17 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 assists in 23 minutes before he felt a ‘pop’ in his calf and didn’t return to the team’s win in Toronto.
Now we can officially add JV to the list of injured Nuggets who will miss at least four weeks. They’ve been without Christian Braun and Aaron Gordon since mid-November, and then they lost Cam Johnson before Christmas. Nikola Jokic went down with a bone bruise in his knee on Monday night, and now, one game later, Valanciunas is lost for at least a month as well.
The Nuggets’ front office did a great job of building the bench in the offseason, adding playable depth and trading for a legitimate backup center to alleviate the damage of the non-Jokic minutes. Well, that depth is being tested and then some, as four starters and now Jokic’s backup are all out for the foreseeable future.
Things were getting tight enough with the starting lineup and bench rotations, but now the team is without its only two centers on the roster, plus their starting power forward and oftentimes small-ball center in Gordon.
Nuggets going to have to play incredibly small
Now, the Nuggets' only frontcourt players on the roster are DaRon Holmes and Zeke Nnaji, both of whom are more power forward than center. One will likely have to start either the rookie Holmes, who had a solid game on Wednesday night, but has never been part of an NBA rotation, or Nnaji, who has been buried on the bench, deemed unplayable for years.
They’ll also have to play a ton of small-ball, leaning on Peyton Watson and Spencer Jones to essentially account for the center duties. That could lead to some interesting lineups with lots of speed and shooting, but they could get destroyed down low and on the glass.
The only other option is trading for or signing a veteran center to eat some innings for the next month. But that seems unlikely and would be a major annoyance to plug a short–term hole. That would only be for a true emergency scenario, if things go completely off the rails.
But with any luck, David Adelman and his staff can patch things together until the cavalry returns. Holmes showed a lot of promise on Wednesday night, and other guys have shown a proclivity to rise to the challenge. One thing’s for sure, it’s not going to look anything like the Nuggets basketball we’ve grown accustomed to over the years.