Remember a week and a half ago when the Nuggets had won four straight games, 11 out of 14 overall, Nikola Jokic was putting up triple-doubles in the third quarter every night, and the team was finally fully healthy and rounding into form?
It certainly feels like a long time ago at this point. Sure, Denver has won three straight games after Monday night’s beatdown of the Pelicans. But these haven’t exactly been the most impressive or inspiring wins and suddenly the team is in injury hell again.
Russell Westbrook and Peyton Watson both got injured in Friday night’s win over the 76ers and haven’t played since. Russ was diagnosed with a hamstring strain and he’s now out indefinitely according to Michael Malone. Watson sprained his knee and will be reevaluated in four weeks.
Those are two brutal blows to two of the team’s best defenders and biggest energy guys. They’ve also been two of the more durable players, especially Russ who had played in every game this season.
On top of those two awful hits to the team’s depth, Aaron Gordon went from being off the injury report to being ruled out on Monday night with calf injury management. Before the game, Malone said the injury is something that Gordon will likely be dealing with all season.
Nuggets won’t be able to survive in the West without bolstering depth
It has been pretty clear for most of the season that the Nuggets need to make a move to upgrade the roster, no matter how difficult it is. That was always thought to be the case if the team wanted to reach true contender status.
But with these recent, untimely injuries, the Nuggets may need to make a move just to stay out of the play-in mix. They’re currently 4th in the Western Conference standings, but they’re just 5 games up on the 11 seed. Not to mention, multiple teams behind the Nuggets have already made massive trades to improve their teams.
A couple of bad weeks could truly sink a season and that’s what the Nuggets need to avoid. They are going to sorely miss Westbrook and Watson and they’ll be forced to rely heavily on guys like Zeke Nnaji, Jalen Pickett, and Hunter Tyson.
Those are players who should not be in the rotation for a playoff team and that could very quickly become problematic. The Nuggets can’t afford to go weeks with their current rotation. It’s essential that they make moves before Thursday’s deadline to bolster the depth and give the team a chance to tread water until fully healthy.