Just days after all of the reports were indicating that Nikola Jokic wasn’t expected to return until February, Shams Charania went on ESPN’s NBA Today to offer a promising new update on the best player on the planet and his injured right knee. Shams reported that Jokic has resumed on-court work and that he’s “right on schedule, if not a little bit ahead of schedule”.
That schedule is referencing the initial timetable that was given, that the Joker would be reevaluated in four weeks. He suffered the injury on December 29th, so exactly four weeks from then would be Monday, January 26th.
Now, Charania is saying that a late January return is within reason, and perhaps even expected, and that Jokic is itching to get back in the lineup. If the reevaluation occurs on the 26th, and the training staff deems Jokic ready to play, Denver’s next game is that Tuesday night, the 27th, at home against the East-leading Pistons.
New injury timetable gives Jokic shot at NBA awards
Let’s not put the cart ahead of the horse here, but if Jokic does return on the 27th, that would put a halt to a 15-game absence. He had played in every single game for the Nuggets up to the point of his injury, so the maximum amount of games he could play in this season would be 67, two games above the league’s minimum threshold to be eligible for awards.
Individual awards and honors are the last thing Jokic cares about, and rushing him back from injury just to qualify would be insane. But I think the Joker has earned the benefit of the doubt that he is wholly focused on winning, and if he says he can play and the medical experts agree, we should trust them.
While Joker and the Nuggets may not care, the fans certainly can care about the accolades. It seemed like he was destined to fall short of 65 games, which would have been a shame, ending some incredible streaks.
Nuggets still must practice caution with Joker
If he can somehow hit the mark, he’ll surely be a lock to make an All-NBA team for the eighth straight season, and he’d immediately slot back in right behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as the favorite to win his fourth MVP, and finish in the top two for the sixth straight season.
It’s a very exciting and seemingly very real possibility now, but we should temper expectations. Even if Jokic can return after missing just 15 games, that would mean he can only miss two more games before the playoffs start. Do we really want to push the Joker that hard down the stretch just to be eligible for awards?
Not to mention, one other injury, even just an ankle roll or an illness, could be enough to knock him out for a week and make him ineligible anyway. So, this is great news, and a definite reason for excitement, but let’s not count any chickens before they start hatching.