Nikola Jokic injury updates: Nuggets center hurts elbow warming up for game vs. Rockets

Nuggets center Nikola Jokic injured his right elbow while warming up for a game Wednesday night and was ruled out 45 minutes before opening tip between Denver and the Houston Rockets.

The Nuggets described Jokic’s injury as right elbow inflammation. After the game, coach Michael Malone did not offer any clarity as to the injury’s severity or whether the late removal from the lineup was merely precautionary.

“I haven’t talked to the training staff yet,” Malone said. “So I’ll have a conversation with (VP of sports medicine) Steve Short, and kind of see where we’re at with that.”

Jokic wore a sleeve on his right arm while he warmed up at Ball Arena, which he doesn’t ordinarily do, but Malone said there was no prior pain or discomfort. “Just something that popped up last-minute,” the coach called it.

Jokic has now missed six games this season. The three-time MVP is averaging 30.6 points, 13.2 rebounds and 9.9 assists while leading the league in 3-point percentage at 47.1%.

He participated in the Nuggets’ walk-through on Wednesday as they game-planned for the Rockets, and he was not on their official injury report.

The team is scheduled to fly out of Denver on Thursday for a two-game weekend road trip in Florida. The next home game is the following Tuesday, when Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers visit Ball Arena.

“For that curveball to be thrown at you after (the walk-through), it definitely makes it a little bit more difficult to adjust on the fly,” Malone said. “… We just had no heads-up. It just happened.”

Aaron Gordon also didn’t play in the 118-98 loss to the Rockets, but his absence was an injury management play for his calf. He’s currently coming off the bench with a minutes restriction, and the Nuggets didn’t want to push him in a back-to-back.

“I think the two games in Dallas, you saw the first game, it looked like he hadn’t missed a beat. And obviously second game, a little bit tougher. We’re up by 30. Little bit different feel in that game. But it’s something we’re going to continue to monitor.”

Braun’s perimeter shooting

Christian Braun has been a steady source of transition offense for Denver this season, but his consistency as a 3-point shooter is still a work in progress. At the end of November, he was shooting 48% from beyond the arc. Since the start of December, he’s 27%.

Which made his 22-point outing Wednesday all the more encouraging. Braun went 10 of 11 from the field, including 3s off the dribble and off the catch, plus a step-back midrange jumper.

Malone has stressed in recent weeks the importance of Braun continuing to take open 3s and work himself out of slumps, even if he has missed several in a row. Jamal Murray echoed that sentiment on Wednesday.

“Confidence. It’s all confidence,” Murray said. “Makes two, he’s gonna shoot the next one. He misses two, he starts hesi-ing, you know what I’m saying? Re-screening. ‘Shoot it, man. Just shoot it.’ It’ll come along. Trying to get all these guys ready, get all these guys confident. We’re gonna need every single one of them in the playoffs. So just shoot it now and get used to it. Get used to missing three, four in a row.”

Braun shot a solid 38.4% from three last season, but his increased role is inherently leading to an increase in volume as well.

“I’ll never be the guy that forces up 3s or tries to shoot bad ones to get my attempts up. That doesn’t move me. I don’t think that’s good for our team,” he said after the loss to Houston. “When I’m open, I’m gonna shoot it. When I’m not, I’m gonna move it. So that’s kind of how I’ve always played. That’s who I’ve always been. And I won’t change that. I need to make sure I’m shooting the ones when I’m open, obviously, and not passing them up. I think I did a really good job of that the first couple months, and then missed some and maybe passed up a couple that I should have shot in the last month.”