The Denver Nuggets are in dire need of some good news following their heart-wrenching defeat to the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals on Sunday. Unfortunately for them, this won't come in the form of Will Barton's status moving forward.
Shams Charania of The Athletic reveals that Denver will likely miss out on the services of Barton for the remainder of this series due to his nagging knee injury:
Nuggets swingman Will Barton (knee) is unlikely to return during the Western Conference Finals series against the Lakers, sources said. Barton, who has not played during the NBA’s restarted season, is continuing to rehabilitate a knee injury.
Barton was a key player for the Nuggets during the regular season, with the 6-foot-5 swingman averaging 15.1 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.1 steals in 33.0 minutes per contest. He also drained 1.9 triples per contest on an efficient 37.5 percent clip. Jerami Grant has done a tremendous job filling in for Barton as Denver's starting small forward, with Michael Porter Jr. also taking on a larger role. However, there's no denying that the Nuggets are direly missing Barton's services right now.
It's unclear if Barton will be available if Denver pulls off another miracle and mounts a comeback to beat the Lakers and reach the NBA Finals. Given he hasn't played in seemingly forever now, the guess here is that he's done for the playoffs no matter what, which is truly a bummer for the upstart Nuggets.
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