The Nuggets have another injury concern heading into the holidays. Forward Cameron Johnson limped off the court during the fourth quarter against Dallas on Tuesday after injuring his right knee. Johnson will undergo an MRI to determine the severity of the injury, per ESPN’s Tim MacMahon (Twitter link).
Head coach David Adelman referred to the injury as “concerning” during his post-game media session, as Vinny Benedetto of The Denver Gazette tweets.
“Imaging has to happen before anything else,” Adelman said. “It was not a fun sight to see, especially a guy that’s been trending so well, playing so well the last month. (He) has really found his way with our group. We’ve had a lot of these moments this year. It’s deflating, but hopefully the news is better than it looked, because we know what Cam means to our team.”
Johnson had started 27 games entering Tuesday’s contest, averaging 11.8 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 30.9 minutes per contest. He was coming off a 20-point outing in a win over Utah on Monday.
The 29-year-old, who was acquired from the Nets during the summer, is in the third season of a four-year, $94.5MM deal.
Denver is already down two starters with Christian Braun (ankle) and Aaron Gordon (hamstring) on the sidelines. Braun has been out since Nov. 12, while Gordon hasn’t played since Nov. 21.
If Johnson is out for an extended period, Denver will have to rely more heavily on Tim Hardaway Jr., Bruce Brown and Julian Strawther.