How do the Nuggets survive without Jokić?
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What are the implications of Nikola Jokić's knee injury for the Nuggets?
Good morning and welcome to the NBA Daily for December 30th, 2025. I'm Dave DuFour here with Espera Henney. Coming up, Nikola Jokic left with an injury. We're going to talk about what that could mean for the Nuggets. The Cavs get a big win over the Spurs. And Joelle Lorenzi is here to talk about the Bulls and what they may be doing at the deadline. Good morning, everybody. Sad morning. Yes. No, not a good morning, actually. It's a morning of purgatory. Morning with a U. Maybe. We don't know yet. Yeah.
How can the Nuggets adapt their strategy without Jokić?
Because as we're recording this, we don't know the status of Nikola Jokic's knee. I think... S when we watch so many games every single night, we see injuries pretty much every night. I mean, there were four or five, six last night, maybe.
But injuries to guys come back from injuries pretty quickly. Right.
What did the Cavaliers' recent win over the Spurs reveal?
So if you send a text, you're like, Hey, this guy got hurt. there's a chance he might be back by the time that guy responds to you.
What challenges are the Bulls facing with injuries to key players?
A guy like Nikola Jokic going down, though, it just feels different. I think about Tatum, Halliburton last year. And again, we don't know the severity of the injury yet. But at the end of the second quarter, right before halftime, honestly, the last play of the first half, there was an odd moment where Jaime Jaquez is driving to the basket, and Spencer Jones gets shoved a little bit, steps backwards, traps Nikola Jokic's foot, and he kind of moves awkwardly, twists the knee, goes down immediately, he's holding his knee, and, you know, it's just out of character for him. He immediately limps off to the locker room and was called out for the rest of the game. Miami blew out the Nuggets the rest of the game, but
Nobody really thinking about the game right now because we're starting to think about what does the world look like for the Nuggets? They're losing Jokic. I mean, Christian Brown's still out.
How does the Bulls' injury situation impact their trade assets?
Cam Johnson's going to be out, you know, another few weeks.
Four starters, basically, if Jokic is out for an extended period.
Seven starters because Jokic, you know, Jokic is worth four guys, man.
This is, I mean, this is. Dude, we just made the case that he's having the best season ever yesterday. you know we just made the case for this so the fact that we sound so deflated makes a lot of sense because this is currently the best player in the world and for the most part in nba history if you look back over the last few decades the best player in the world typically doesn't miss a lot of time and by the way jokic has been very healthy Like all throughout his career, he's only had one year where he's played less than 70 games. And that was 69 games. He just he has a nice season, still had a nice season, still MVP worthy.
What should the Bulls consider in their approach to the trade deadline?
Like he has not missed a ton of games in his career. And the fact that he fell down also wincing a reaction that we haven't necessarily seen from him a ton. That's what makes this concerning again. Hopefully not serious. Hopefully maybe a hyper-extended knee that gives him maybe a month out and not something that's season-ending for a guy who is the best player in the NBA. I will say they might be able to survive – a couple of weeks to a month without Jokic. And survive by survive, I mean not die. Because they will still struggle. Yes, yeah. The Nuggets are doing better this year without Jokic than they have in previous years. from all of our MVP discussions, Jokic's on-off numbers are always absurd, right?
Why is trading for Anthony Davis not a viable option for the Bulls?
But this year it's a little bit more even. So the Nuggets are only losing the minutes with Jokic off of the floor by 2.7 points, which might sound bad. It's not bad compared to what it's been in the past when they have completely cratered and it's been like minus 12, minus 15. Jokic has a plus 21 point differential. That's how it usually is. But their depth has helped them this year. And the fact that Jonas Valanciunas is on the roster, they have a feasible starting center moving forward. Jamal Murray, for all intents and purposes, is having his best year of his career. My glass half full take to this is, hey, maybe they'll be able to survive a little bit.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What are the implications of Nikola Jokić's knee injury for the Nuggets?
0:08–0:44
2
How can the Nuggets adapt their strategy without Jokić?
0:44–1:08
3
What did the Cavaliers' recent win over the Spurs reveal?
1:08–1:16
4
What challenges are the Bulls facing with injuries to key players?
1:16–2:10
5
How does the Bulls' injury situation impact their trade assets?
2:10–3:03
6
What should the Bulls consider in their approach to the trade deadline?
3:03–3:55
7
Why is trading for Anthony Davis not a viable option for the Bulls?
3:55–4:38
8
What are the long-term consequences of the Bulls' current roster decisions?
4:38–26:47