{"id":511154,"date":"2026-01-02T05:02:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T05:02:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/511154\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T05:02:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T05:02:15","slug":"nuggets-dealt-another-injury-blow-with-jonas-valanciunas-out-with-calf-strain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/511154\/","title":{"rendered":"Nuggets dealt another injury blow with Jonas Valanciunas out with calf strain"},"content":{"rendered":"

The injuries keep piling up for the Nuggets.<\/p>\n

Denver big man Jonas Valanciunas is expected to miss at least four weeks after suffering a right calf strain during the Nuggets\u2019 106-103 win over the Raptors on Wednesday, the team announced Thursday.<\/p>\n

Valanciunas, 33, was forced to limp off the court late in the third quarter of Wednesday\u2019s game, and now joins a lengthy list of injured Nuggets players.<\/p>\n

\"DenverDenver Nuggets center Jonas Valanciunas (17) covers his forehead with his hand after driving to the basket against the Miami Heat during the second quarter at Kaseya Center. Sam Navarro-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

\u201cThey said it\u2019s a calf strain. I don\u2019t know how serious it is,\u201d Nuggets head coach David Adelman told\u00a0BasketNews<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019re getting used to this. It seems every night someone has something. The cool thing about it is there is somebody else to get an opportunity from it, and that\u2019s how we have to look at it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Four starters are currently sidelined in Denver, including three-time MVP Nikola Jokic, who hyperextended his left knee<\/a> during Monday\u2019s loss to the Heat and will be reevaluated in a month.<\/p>\n

Valanciunas, who was averaging 8.5 points and 4.7 rebounds through 33 games with Denver this season, was expected to start in Jokic\u2019s place before getting injured himself.<\/p>\n

With both Jokic and Valanciunas hurt, the Nuggets will likely turn to rookie big man DaRon Holmes II or 2020 first-round pick Zeke Nnaji to fill the center position in the meantime.<\/p>\n

\"DenverJonas Valanciunas of the Denver Nuggets handles the ball during the game against the Toronto Raptors on December 31, 2025 at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The Nuggets are also without forwards Aaron Gordon (hamstring) and Cameron Johnson (knee), as well as guard Christian Braun (ankle) \u2014 all of whom are mainstays in Denver\u2019s starting lineup.<\/p>\n

Jokic, who was averaging nearly 30 points while leading the NBA in rebounds and assists, is the largest blow for the Nuggets going forward. <\/p>\n

Luckily, however, Denver avoided the worst circumstance regarding Jokic\u2019s injury, as it was initially speculated that the seven-time All-Star could have torn his ACL, which would have certainly ended his season.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, it\u2019s part of the game,\u201d Nuggets guard Jamal Murray \u2014 who is also listed as day-to-day \u2014 told reporters following Denver\u2019s loss to Miami on Monday. \u201cBut we never want to see it happen. \u2026 Next man up. We\u2019ve got to focus on what\u2019s in here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The injuries keep piling up for the Nuggets. Denver big man Jonas Valanciunas is expected to miss at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":511155,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3781],"tags":[7,301,187,3943,6890,6,302,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-511154","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denver-nuggets","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-denver","10":"tag-denver-nuggets","11":"tag-denvernuggets","12":"tag-jonas-valanciunas","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-nuggets","15":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115823755286225073","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=511154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/511155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}