Hours before the Nuggets’ Sunday night game with the Bucks was set to tip off, NBA Insider Marc Stein emptied out his notebook full of intel and dropped a massive tidbit at the end for Denver fans. He led the final paragraph of his notebook by saying, “Early February increasingly looks like it could be the soonest that Nikola Jokić and Cam Johnson can realistically return to the Nuggets' lineup.”
Stein didn’t elaborate further or offer any more information about the two critical injury updates, but his pedigree and matter-of-fact tone lend credence to the idea that Jokic’s original timeline was accurate all along.
He was ruled out and said to be reevaluated in four weeks, which would be precisely January 28th. Early reports came out that he was making good progress and Denver fans were dreaming of an early return, but that looks less likely by the day.
The Nuggets have two games to end January after the projected reevaluation date, home games against the Nets on the 29th and the Clippers on the 30th. Then they start February at home with huge tilts against the West-leading Thunder at home on February 1st, followed by a road matchup with the East-leading Pistons.
Jokic remains on track to be ineligible for awards
January is a busy month for the Nuggets, packed with 17 games. Add the final game of December, which was the first game Jokic missed with his injury, and that would mean 18 straight missed games for the recent MVP favorite.
Even if Stein’s prognostication of “early February” is to be taken literally as February 1st, that would leave Jokic with a possible maximum amount of games played at 64, assuming he returns on the first against the Thunder, and plays in every game for the remainder of the season. That’s not happening.
In other words, it looks like the dream of a fourth MVP and an eighth straight appearance on an All-NBA team is about to officially die. It would be a brutal way to end an incredible streak, but that’s the reality we’re looking at with the NBA’s 65-game minimum rule to be eligible for awards and honors.
Through no fault of his own, barring a last-minute change in his recovery timeline, Jokic is going to fall just short of the mark, and despite having one of the best seasons the NBA has ever seen, he will not be officially recognized as one of the best 15 players in the league this season.