<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 18px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 16px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: #0000FF;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 16px;    text-decoration: none;}ul {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 16px;}ol {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;    font-size: 16px;    border-left: 2px solid black;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 12px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;    background-color: #EFEFEF;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article><header><figure><img src="https://clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/jokic.jpg"><figcaption>CP</figcaption></figure><h1>Nuggets star Nikola Jokic gets same 6-word speech from Will Barton before every game</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2021-01-05T21:55:10-08:00">January 5th, 9:55pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2021-01-05T21:55:10-08:00">January 5th, 9:55pm</time><address><a>Dijo Songco</a></address><h3 class="op-kicker">NBA</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>Will Barton is all aboard the Nikola Jokic train. Apparently, the Denver Nuggets swingman has been one of the biggest motivators for Jokic in the past five seasons they’ve been together in Mile High City.</p><p>Jokic, who has been a legitimate MVP candidate in his own right for the past few campaigns, has had a blistering start to the 2020-21 season. And after Tuesday win’s over the Minnesota Timberwolves, Barton shared with the media what he tells The Joker before every game.</p><blockquote>“Go out there and win MVP,” the Nuggets forward said, via <a href="https://twitter.com/msinger/status/1346682145360797696?s=20">Mike Singer of The Denver Post</a>. “You could be the best player in the world if you want to. It’s all up to him.”</blockquote><p>Nikola Jokic had MVP energy again on Tuesday, as he dropped 35 points, 15 rebounds and six assists to lead Denver to a <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/scores/nba/4d44ccf4-ed09-48fa-9e21-cf4e58c3d7f9/minnesota-timberwolves-denver-nuggets-01-06-2021" rel="noopener">123-116</a> victory over Minnesota. This follows Jokic’s 19-12-12 performance last Sunday when the Nuggets arrived in Minnesota for the first installment of their two-game visit.</p><p>The 25-year-old Serbian has made a name for himself as one of the most laid-back dudes out there in the NBA. Jokic has been known to turn it on (and off) whenever he feels like it, which is probably where his teammate Barton is coming from. Jokic has proven that he can be great if he sets his mind to it, and fortunately for the Nuggets this season, their starting center has been on fire so far.</p><p>After seven games, Jokic has been an early-favorite to win MVP by averaging a triple-double with 25.6 points, 11.7 boards and 11.9 dimes.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Nuggets star Nikola Jokic gets same 6-word speech from Will Barton before every game

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 18px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 16px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: #0000FF;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 16px;    text-decoration: none;}ul {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 16px;}ol {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;    font-size: 16px;    border-left: 2px solid black;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 12px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;    background-color: #EFEFEF;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article><header><figure><img src="https://clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Will-Barton-Michael-Porter-Jr.-Nuggets.jpg"></figure><h1>Nuggets’ Michael Porter Jr. reacts to Will Barton claiming himself as a starter</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2020-12-23T06:07:04-08:00">December 23rd, 6:07am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2020-12-23T06:08:19-08:00">December 23rd, 6:08am</time><address><a>Jeremy Chua</a></address><h3 class="op-kicker">NBA</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>Denver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. is looking to take strides as he enters his second official campaign in the upcoming 2020-2021 NBA season. A crucial part of his continuous development will be his maturity towards accepting any role that the Nuggets will be easing him into, given the team’s stacked roster. The Missouri product recently shed light on his teammate Will Barton’s <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nuggets-news-will-barton-demanding-spot-in-starting-lineup/">self-proclamation</a> as a starter and how he will be handling things moving forward.</p><blockquote>“Everybody knows Will (Barton’s) a starter,” Porter said via the <a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2020/12/23/michael-porter-jr-nuggets-maturity-growth/">Denver Post</a>. “(Barton) saying that shouldn’t have been blown up the way it was because he has started, he has produced. That’s not immature or anything on his part. He views himself as a starter. I view myself as a starter. But we both know that if we want to be a part of something special, we gotta stick together, me and him individually.”“And then as a team, we just gotta be willing to accept our roles. If that’s me starting, if that’s him starting, if that’s him starting instead of Gary (Harris), whatever the case may be, we gotta stick together.”</blockquote><p>Porter finally took the floor last season after sitting out the entire 2018-2019 season due to his nagging back issues. He had a rocky start to the season but eventually gained momentum especially in the recent playoffs where he averaged norms of 11.4 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 0.8 assists through 19 games played off the bench.</p><p>Although he had no problem in delivering on the offensive end, Porter was eventually exposed as a liability on the floor during their first-round playoff encounter against the Utah Jazz where he was often switched to guard Donovan Mitchell.</p><p>Nonetheless, head coach Mike Malone believes that the swingman will be able to pick things up defensively as he continues to progress. Now healthy and having significant playing experience under his belt, he is already hoping to serve as a vital contributor for the Nuggets in the upcoming season.</p><p>Michael Porter Jr. and the rest of the team will match up against the Sacramento Kings for their season opener on Dec. 23.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Nuggets’ Michael Porter Jr. reacts to Will Barton claiming himself as a starter

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 18px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 16px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: #0000FF;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 16px;    text-decoration: none;}ul {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 16px;}ol {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;    font-size: 16px;    border-left: 2px solid black;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 12px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;    background-color: #EFEFEF;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article><header><figure><img src="https://clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Will-Barton-Nuggets.jpg"></figure><h1>Will Barton demanding spot in starting lineup</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2020-12-17T06:25:08-08:00">December 17th, 6:25am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2020-12-17T06:25:08-08:00">December 17th, 6:25am</time><address><a>Skyler Carlin</a></address><h3 class="op-kicker">NBA</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>Coming into the preseason, everyone was curious to see whether Will Barton would start for the Denver Nuggets, but it appears he could be headed for the bench. Even though he came off of the bench in Wednesday’s preseason contest versus the Portland Trail Blazers, <a href="https://theathletic.com/2267718/2020/12/17/will-barton-says-hes-a-starter-but-it-may-be-time-to-embrace-a-sixth-man-role/?source=emp_shared_article">Barton adamantly said that he’s a starter</a>.</p><blockquote>“I am a starter,” Barton double-downed on Wednesday, via The Athletic’s Kendra Andrews. “I have no plans on being a sixth man. I have no desire to be that.”</blockquote><p>On Wednesday night, instead of starting the game on the floor, Barton came into the game with the second unit. As a result, the bench of the Nuggets would look explosive, giving them another reliable scorer to relieve the starters.</p><p>However, Barton doesn’t seem content with spending the entire season as a sixth-man or bench player. Despite Barton being direct in saying he’s a starter, Mike Malone responded with some tough love. As coach, he needs to make some hard decisions for the good of the team.</p><blockquote>“My job isn’t to keep anybody happy,” Malone said. “If I wanted to keep people happy I’d sell ice cream for a living. I have to make tough decisions and as we move forward to that season opener, the tough decisions will have to be made.”</blockquote><p>In the past two seasons, Will Barton has been a member of the starting unit, starting in a career-high 58 games a season ago. Sadly, a <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nuggets-news-will-barton-leaving-bubble-rehab-knee-injury/">knee injury</a> would prevent Barton from being available for the entirety of the team’s magical playoff run in the bubble.</p><p>Sometimes, players can be against accepting a bench role, especially when they’ve had success as a starter. With the Nuggets looking to build off of their Western Conference Finals appearance in 2019-2020, Barton’s role with the team could cause some issues behind closed doors as the season goes on. It’ll be something to keep an eye on, for sure.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Will Barton demanding spot in starting lineup

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 18px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 16px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: #0000FF;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 16px;    text-decoration: none;}ul {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 16px;}ol {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;    font-size: 16px;    border-left: 2px solid black;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 12px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;    background-color: #EFEFEF;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article><header><figure><img src="https://clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/nuggets-news-will-bartons-status-for-remainder-of-western-conference-finals-revealed.png"></figure><h1>Will Barton’s status for remainder of Nuggets’ Western Conference Finals series vs. Lakers, revealed</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2020-09-21T07:42:42-07:00">September 21st, 7:42am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2020-09-21T07:42:42-07:00">September 21st, 7:42am</time><address><a>Paolo Songco</a></address><h3 class="op-kicker">NBA</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The Denver Nuggets are in dire need of some good news following their <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/lakers-video-anthony-davis-game-winning-shot-in-game-2-vs-nuggets/" rel="noopener noreferrer">heart-wrenching defeat</a> 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.</p><p><a href="https://theathletic.com/2078184/?source=twitterhq">Shams Charania of The Athletic</a> reveals that Denver will likely miss out on the services of Barton for the remainder of this series due to his nagging knee injury:</p><blockquote>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.</blockquote><p>Barton was a key player for the Nuggets during the regular season, with the 6-foot-5 swingman averaging <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/bartowi01.html#all_per_game">15.1 points</a>, 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.</p><p>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.</p><figure class="op-tracker"><iframe><script>  (function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){  (i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),  m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)  })(window,document,'script','https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga');  ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', 'auto');  ga('set', 'campaignSource', 'Facebook');  ga('set', 'campaignMedium', 'Instant Article');  ga('set', 'title', ia_document.title);  ga('send', 'pageview');</script><script type="text/javascript">      window._taboola = window._taboola || [];      _taboola.push({          article: 'auto',          ref_url: 'http://instantarticles.fb.com'      });      !function (e, f, u, i) {          if (!document.getElementById(i)) {              e.async = 1;              e.src = u;              e.id = i;              f.parentNode.insertBefore(e, f);          }      }(document.createElement('script'),          document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0],          'https://cdn.taboola.com/libtrc/clutchpoints-clutchpoints/trk.js',          'tb_loader_script');      if (window.performance) {          if (typeof window.performance.mark == 'function') {            window.performance.mark('tbl_ic');          }        }</script></iframe></figure></article>    </body></html>

Will Barton’s status for remainder of Nuggets’ Western Conference Finals series vs. Lakers, revealed

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 18px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px;    font-size: 16px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: #0000FF;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 16px;    text-decoration: none;}ul {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 16px;}ol {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    padding: 0px 0px 0px 15px;    font-size: 16px;    border-left: 2px solid black;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: #333333;    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 12px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;    background-color: #EFEFEF;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article><header><figure><img src="https://clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/will.jpg"><figcaption>ClutchPoints</figcaption></figure><h1>Nuggets’ Will Barton not ruling out possible return in playoff series vs. Clippers</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2020-09-07T19:11:40-07:00">September 7th, 7:11pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2020-09-07T19:15:24-07:00">September 7th, 7:15pm</time><address><a>Kriel Ibarrola</a></address><h3 class="op-kicker">NBA</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The Denver Nuggets might soon get a much-needed reinforcement back. The team’s reliable 3-and-D player Will Barton is reportedly considering returning in the Denver’s ongoing West semis clash against the Los Angeles Clippers.</p><p>The 6-foot-5 swingman entered the Orlando bubble with his team back in July, but was sidelined for the most part due to lingering knee soreness.</p><p>Per Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, Barton is currently in Miami doing rehab and assessing his status.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">My <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/NBAonTNT?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NBAonTNT</a> report on Denver Nuggets swingman Will Barton not ruling out a return this series while rehabbing in Miami and undergoing daily COVID-19 testing. <a target="_blank" href="https://t.co/jdKScd0Sjr">pic.twitter.com/jdKScd0Sjr</a></p><p>— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/ChrisBHaynes/status/1303145576163401733?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 8, 2020</a></p></blockquote><p><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p></figure><p>Will Barton played for 18 minutes in Denver’s scrimmage against the Orlando Magic upon the resumption of the season, but has been a no-show ever since.</p><p>The Nuggets struggled in the bubble without their vocal leader and was on the brink of elimination in the first-round of the playoffs against the 6th seeded Utah Jazz.</p><p>Denver still had guys like Michael Porter Jr. and Torrey Craig to take Barton’s place, but it was apparent that the team was greatly missing his presence on both ends of the court.</p><p>Without their two best defenders in Barton and Gary Harris, the Nuggets went down 3-1 against the Jazz. The return of Harris in Games 6 and 7 gave Denver a huge boost, as they managed to advance to the second round.</p><p>Denver is currently in a predicament against a Clippers team filled with great scorers at the wing position. Barton’s return will indeed give them greater chances of upsetting the West’s 2nd-seed.</p><p>Barton is considered one of the most durable players for Denver, missing just 21 games over his first three full seasons at the Mile High City.</p><p>In 58 regular season games, Barton notched 15.1 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.1 steals for head coach Mike Malone. He also shot career-highs of 45 percent from the field and 37.5 percent from downtown.</p><p>—</p><p><i>Follow ClutchPoints on </i><a href="https://twitter.com/clutchpointsapp"><i>Twitter</i></a><i> &amp; </i><a href="https://www.instagram.com/clutchpoints/?hl=en"><i>Instagram</i></a><i>, and like us on </i><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ClutchPoints/"><i>Facebook</i></a><i>. We can also be found on Flipboard where you can subscribe and follow us. Get more on the Nuggets.</i></p><p><i>All of our NBA content can be found on the NBA section of the ClutchPoints home page </i><a href="https://clutchpoints.com/sports/nba-news"><i>here</i></a><i>. 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Nuggets’ Will Barton not ruling out possible return in playoff series vs. Clippers

Daryl Macon

Ish Smith

Naz Mitrou-Long

Justin Patton

Will Barton

Gary Clark

Dewan Hernandez

Jarell Martin

Skal Labissiere

Tyler Lydon

https://twitter.com/WillTheThrillB5/status/1347231446935724037/

My son made 2 today 🙌🏾Happy born day Ocean..I love u forever 🤞🏾

https://twitter.com/WillTheThrillB5/status/1344908765099929600/

Chanel pearls on my neck. Don’t compare me.

https://twitter.com/WillTheThrillB5/status/1337425171397808129/

Princess Lilly turns 4 today. My babygirl gonna be a star. So smart with so much personality. My spoiled diva. She does everything &amp; tries everything. Gonna be special. I love you forever and I’ll always be there for you.

https://twitter.com/WillTheThrillB5/status/1324451175689834496/

Happy PTF day to my brother lil Adam. Can’t wait to come home shorty. I love you forever ⛓

https://twitter.com/WillTheThrillB5/status/1321430559369908227/

Happy PTF Big Drip. Nobody balled like us 2! Ain’t a city we ain’t drag in. I love you &amp; I miss you lil kuz. All these memories we share I can’t forget them. My heart &amp; my energy forever ⛓

https://twitter.com/WillTheThrillB5/status/1299076091701686273/

Turning off my phone for the night now, baby. Pouring out my soul &amp; it might sound crazy.....

https://twitter.com/WillTheThrillB5/status/1299075411830140928/

Lost individuals is all I see. Grabbed a top spot like pardon my reach. Woke up one day &amp; it was all on me. If it comes down, it's gonna fall on me. Long way down from the heights I'm chasing.....

https://twitter.com/WillTheThrillB5/status/1291460436156649476/

Will
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Nuggets’ Will Barton not ruling out possible return in playoff series vs. Clippers