The Denver Nuggets star center Nikola Jokić suffered a left knee hyperextension, which will cost him four weeks. The three-time NBA Most Valuable Player and a favorite to win this year will be reevaluated after four weeks.
This might be good news for the Nuggets and fans who support Nikola that he did not suffer a more serious injury. If he suffered a more serious injury, then it would have cost him the rest of the 2025-2026 season.
Jokić suffered this injury in the first half of the Miami Heat game on Monday.
Now, he will be out of the race for MVP this season as the NBA requires players to appear in 65 games to be eligible for this award. So, his quest to join the likes of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Bill Russell, LeBron James, and Wilt Chamberlain to win the four MVP awards is going to be on hold for another year.
However, the main question is what will happen to the Denver Nuggets and how this injury will impact them.
Without any injuries, the Nuggets looked like they were a champion team. They looked like every bit as good as the team that won the 2023 championship. They looked-like the biggest threat to the defending champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder.
As of now, the Nuggets are placed third in the Western Conference. Their record of 23-10 places them on the other side of the bracket, where they would not face the Thunder. Nikola has maintained a 56-win pace in the absence of three starters, including Aaron Gordon, Cam Johnson, and Christian Braun. All these players are on the injury report. Now, Jamal Murray is the sole health starter for the team.
With Jonas Valančiūnas in place of Nikola, and other talents Peyton Watson, Spencer Jones, and Jalen Pickett helped Murray to lead the Nuggets to a 106-103 win against the Toronto Raptors.
The head coach of Denver, David Adelman, was pleased with the team’s performance. He knew how difficult it would be to win without Jokić. Here is what he said.
“It’s gonna be like this every night. We’re gonna have to find a way to get to the fourth quarter.”
Jokić is one of the most durable stars of the NBA. This is the first significant injury of his career. He has not missed more than five consecutive games since the beginning of the 2017-18 season. Now, he is set miss more games during these four weeks. If he misses more than 15 games this season, then he will not be eligible for the 2025-26 MVP award.