The injury bug has hit the Denver Nuggets frontcourt players badly, as Paul Millsap and Wilson Chandler have been sidelined with different injuries. During Thursday’s game versus the Chicago Bulls, they saw their promising young center, Nikola Jokic, also go down in pain, as he suffered what appeared to be a severe ankle sprain.
It happened with only 44 seconds left in the second quarter, as the Serbian international drove to the basket, before accidentally stepping on the foot of his defender, and fell to the floor. He was clearly in pain and had to go to the locker room to have some tests done on it.
.@JaredSGreenberg, @3DTV and @MisterCBooz react to Nikola Jokic's potential foot/ankle injury against the Bulls.
Stay tuned on #GameTime for updates. pic.twitter.com/HJGZx125rw
— NBA TV (@NBATV) December 1, 2017
Fortunately for he and the Nuggets, results came back negative. However, he was not able to return to the game, as the team is clearly taking a cautious approach with him, and does not want him to aggravate it.
Status note: X-rays negative on Nikola Jokic’s ankle. Will test it out to see if he can return Thursday.
— FantasyLabs NBA (@FantasyLabsNBA) December 1, 2017




Nikola Jokić has a left ankle sprain and will not return.
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) December 1, 2017
The Nuggets will have a day off before going up against the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday, which could help Jokic recover from the injury. It’s still unclear if he will be available to play by then, but head coach Mike Malone is hopeful he can recover quickly from it.
Malone says he thinks Jokic has a left ankle sprain and they hope to get him back for the Lakers game in two days. That would be a FAST recovery.
— T.J. McBride (@TJMcBrideNBA) December 1, 2017
More updates are expected to surface on Friday.