The Denver Nuggets have announced that forward Juancho Hernangomez is out indefinitely as he deals with the effects of mononucleosis, according to Marc Stein of The New York Times.
Hernangomez, a second-year player out of Spain, was officially ruled out of Monday's game against the Washington Wizards with an undisclosed illness and has only played in six and seven minutes during the first two games of the season. The 6-foot-9 forward did not travel with the team for Wednesday’s game against the Charlotte Hornets.
The symptoms for mono, which can include fatigue, a sore throat, and fever, typically last four-to-six weeks.
Hernangomez has only attempted one field goal, a three-point miss during his second game of the season against the Sacramento Kings. He did not take a single shot during the Nuggets’ season-opening loss at the Utah Jazz last week, prompting coach Mike Malone to say he needed to “get it going.”
While Malone was obviously ignorant of his diagnosis, this helps explain the very slow start to his season.
“Right now, he doesn’t have that same energy and zap that he had last year,” said Malone, according to Gina Mizell of The Denver Post — adding Hernangomez had a grueling offseason while playing for the Nuggets during the Summer League and for Spain in EuroBasket.
Forward Wilson Chandler is expected to cover for his absence as a stretch-four behind All-Star Paul Millsap.
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