{"id":551966,"date":"2026-01-21T23:22:22","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T23:22:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/551966\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T23:22:22","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T23:22:22","slug":"northwest-notes-nurkic-avdija-henderson-nuggets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/551966\/","title":{"rendered":"Northwest Notes: Nurkic, Avdija, Henderson, Nuggets"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since raving about the Jazz organization last month<\/a>, Jusuf Nurkic<\/a> has been in and out of the team\u2019s lineup, missing time due to a toe injury and then receiving his first three DNP-CDs of the season last week. That hasn\u2019t diminished the big man\u2019s enthusiasm for his current situation, according to Andy Larsen of The Salt Lake Tribune<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nurkic \u2013 who is on an expiring $19.4MM contract \u2013 has been the subject of some trade speculation leading up to the February 5 deadline. However, he expressed a desire to remain in Utah, referring to himself with a smile as a \u201cJazz for life,\u201d as Larsen relays.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, I obviously love being here. It\u2019s been a great experience so far, and hopefully we continue the journey for a long time. But you can\u2019t really control a lot of things,\u201d Nurkic said. \u201cIt\u2019s not probably bad or wrong or good to be in the trade rumors, it\u2019s something in between. But if it\u2019s up to me, I\u2019m not leaving, so, (I want to) finish the season with the Jazz.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Larsen, Nurkic is highly regarded in Utah, with the club\u2019s brain trust pointing out that he leads the NBA in screen assists and has been a good fit on a young Jazz roster. That doesn\u2019t mean the 31-year-old won\u2019t be moved, but if the Jazz do trade him, Larsen can envision a scenario in which he returns as an unrestricted free agent in the offseason and backs up center Walker Kessler<\/a> in 2026\/27.<\/p>\n

We have more from around the Northwest:<\/p>\n

Sixth-year forward Deni Avdija<\/a> has emerged as an impact player for the Trail Blazers, averaging career highs in points (26.2) and assists (6.9) per game so far this season. Avdija\u2019s star turn has made his current four-year, $55MM contract (he\u2019s in year two) one of the most team-friendly deals in the NBA, but he has no regrets about signing that extension, per Jason Quick of The Athletic<\/a>. \u201cIt gave me a lot of calmness, because I know I\u2019m secure,\u201d Avdija said. \u201cThat was my goal. I told my agent, and he was like, \u2018I think you should sign for less years,\u2019 but I was like, \u2018If I outplay my contract, I outplay my contract. We will deal with that later.\u2019 I\u2019m not going to worry about $10 million more or $20 million less. This is what I got, and I\u2019m going to say thank you and not take it for granted. It\u2019s still a lot of money.\u201d
\nScoot Henderson<\/a> has yet to play this season due to a torn left hamstring, and while his return isn\u2019t imminent, the\u00a0Trail Blazers guard\u00a0 was spotted on Tuesday running full-court sprints after practice, according to Joe Freeman of The Oregonian<\/a>. \u201cHe is progressing,\u201d interim head coach Tiago Splitter said. \u201cHe\u2019s getting better. I understand. Everybody\u2019s a little bit frustrated about this, but it\u2019s a tough injury. It\u2019s (one) where people tend to have a second injury, so we\u2019ve got to be careful with him. He\u2019s a big part of our franchise. We\u2019ve got to protect him. And I think we\u2019re doing the right thing and he\u2019s feeling better day by day.\u201d
\nNuggets head coach David Adelman provided updates on his two injured centers on Tuesday, according to Bennett Durando of The Denver Post<\/a> (subscription required). Adelman referred to Jokic\u2019s recovery from a hyperextended left knee as \u201ckind of up and down,\u201d indicating that Jonas Valanciunas<\/a> (right calf strain) will likely return before Jokic does.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since raving about the Jazz organization last month, Jusuf Nurkic has been in and out of the team\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":508687,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3785],"tags":[7,980,423,6890,5088,6,4425,422,427,3972,1405],"class_list":{"0":"post-551966","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-utah-jazz","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-deni-avdija","10":"tag-jazz","11":"tag-jonas-valanciunas","12":"tag-jusuf-nurkic","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-scoot-henderson","15":"tag-utah","16":"tag-utah-jazz","17":"tag-utahjazz","18":"tag-walker-kessler"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115935664308465044","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551966","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=551966"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551966\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/508687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}