At this point, the Nuggets’ injury situation is getting downright ridiculous. They lost Christian Braun in mid-November, then Aaron Gordon a few days later, then Cam Johnson just before Christmas, and then Nikola Jokic just before New Year’s. The team entered Wednesday night’s game with just one healthy starter in Jamal Murray, and they left the game with yet another injury.
Jonas Valanciunas was filling in admirably for Nikola Jokic, but in the second half, the big man made a sharp cut to get open for an inbounds play and appeared to tweak something in his leg. He immediately started limping and hobbling around, left the game, and did not return.
He was ruled out with a calf injury, and after the game, he was seen in a walking boot, telling reporters he felt a ‘pop’ in his right calf. With Jokic’s injury, JV is the only other center on the roster and was playing well, putting up 17 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 assists in 23 minutes.
Hopefully, it was just a sprain or a cramp, but this doesn’t seem great and is going to cause even more issues for a decimated Nuggets’ lineup. They were already playing without four starters, and if Val misses extended time, that will leave them without five of their top nine players, including their top three frontcourt players.
Nuggets must get extremely creative with lineups
Perhaps the Nuggets look into adding another big man to the roster somehow, but it seems unlikely they’ll add an impact piece soon. More likely, they are going to be rolling with an incredibly shorthanded lineup for a while, and David Adelman is going to have to get very creative to get by.
Without Jokic and Val, the team has no real option at center. Gordon can play a bit of small-ball center, but he’s out too. That leaves the rookie, DaRon Holmes, Zeke Nnaji, and maybe Peyton Watson as options to play the five. Holmes got his first taste of rotation minutes on Wednesday and looked very solid, but asking him to become the starting center and play 30 minutes a night out of nowhere is a big ask.
Nnaji has shown glimpses during his NBA career, but has been mostly glued to the bench for the past couple of seasons, thought of as little more than trade fodder and wasted salary. Going small may be the most feasible option, but Watson is hardly a big man, and teams will surely look to expose his slender frame.
There is no clear option for Adelman to choose, and he’s going to have to mix and match and find ways to survive one short stretch after another. Hopefully, he’ll get some of the cavalry back soon, as AG and Braun may be back by the end of the road trip, but that’s not going to fix the center problem if Valanciunas is out for an extended period.