Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets reacts to a foul

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Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets reacts to a foul during the second half of a game against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Denver Nuggets fans watched with mixed emotions as star big man Nikola Jokic sat on the bench in street clothes Friday night.

Jokic was held out of the Denver Nuggets’ win over the Oklahoma City Thunder’s junior-varsity team. The Nuggets also played without all their starters.

While the Thunder sidelined their top players because they no longer have anything to play for before the playoffs — Oklahoma City clinched the top seed in the NBA in Wednesday’s win over the Los Angeles Clippers — the Nuggets were interestingly OK with losing Friday night. 

David Adelman

GettyDavid Adelman is the head coach of the Denver Nuggets.

Beyond that, Denver further risked Jokic’s ability to obtain postseason awards eligibility. Because of the injury Jokic incurred earlier this season, he still hasn’t met the 65-game threshold. 

There is only one game in the season, and if Jokic doesn’t play in the finale, he’ll officially concede consideration for any postseason honor. 

Nuggets Announce Nikola Jokic’s Playing Status for Sunday

Jokic is having another fantastic season. While he most likely won’t win NBA MVP, he has played like one for much of the season. 

The 31-year-old Denver star is averaging 27.8 points, 12.9 rebounds and 10.9 assists per game, making him the only player this season to average a triple double. He has already clinched that average for the season and has done it for the second time in his career. Russell Westbrook and Oscar Robertson are the only others to pull it off. 

Case in point: Jokic is a superstar and absolutely must at least make himself eligible to be recognized as one this season. If he falls short of the games played threshold, it will forever go down as one of the major outlier seasons in NBA history. 

Brace yourselves, Nuggets fans, there is a real chance Jokic won’t play tomorrow. Go ahead and take a second to read that again if you’d like. 

On the official injury report released today, Jokic is listed as questionable for tomorrow’s clash with the San Antonio Spurs. 

The Strategy Denver Can Use

Of course, being questionable doesn’t mean being unavailable. It’s a 50/50 thing. 

Had Jokic already been eligible for postseason awards, he would’ve sat out tomorrow’s game without a problem. But that’s why this is a problem.

Ahead of Denver’s matchup with Oklahoma City, head coach David Adelman said the playing status of Jokic for Sunday will be decided after discussions between ownership, the front office and Jokic.

An approach Jokic and the Nuggets could take is to only play the star big man 20 minutes and immediately pull him from the game. That way, he’ll meet the 65-game threshold, all but guaranteeing his spot on the All-NBA team.

That’s a safe ground between wanting to rest him to avoid potential for injury and getting Jokic to satisfy the 65-game rule.

Jokic’s final status likely won’t be announced until very close to the start of the game. 

Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. tomorrow evening at Ball Arena.

Adel Ahmad Adel is a writer with over five years of experience covering the NBA. His work has appeared on various media platforms, both national and local. More about Adel Ahmad

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