DENVER — Denver Nuggets All-Star forward Paul Millsap will undergo surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left wrist and could miss up to three months, a league source confirmed to The Denver Post on Tuesday evening.
Millsap sustained the injury, which had previously been diagnosed by the team as a sprain, in Sunday’s loss at the Los Angeles Lakers and missed Monday’s win at the Sacramento Kings.
Nuggets assistant Wes Unseld Jr., who filled in as the head coach while Michael Malone was suspended for Monday’s game, said prior to that contest that he was not aware of a timetable for Millsap’s return but that he would be re-evaluated “at some point.”
Millsap was the Nuggets’ splashy free-agent signing, and a lengthy absence could be a significant hit on Denver’s push for its first playoff berth since 2013. He is Denver’s second-leading scorer (15.3 points) and rebounder (6.2 per game) behind standout center Nikola Jokic and has been praised for his veteran leadership in the Nuggets’ locker room. A three-month recovery time would put Millsap’s return date around the All-Star break in mid-February.
Kenneth Faried started in place of Millsap against the Kings, while Mason Plumlee, Trey Lyles and Juancho Hernangomez are also options at power forward. Starting small forward Wilson Chandler, who missed Monday’s game with lower back pain, can also shift to power forward.
The Nuggets are 10-7 so far this season and wrap up a three-game road trip at Houston tonight.
Moving forward
Michael Malone discussed the possibility of taking either Faried or Plumlee out of the Nuggets’ big-man rotation about a week ago, stressing “if I wanted to keep people happy, I’d sell ice cream.”
But during Monday night’s win at Sacramento, Faried was back in his coveted spot in the starting lineup, while Plumlee and previously little-used posts Hernangomez and Lyles received meaningful minutes.
The moves were necessary with starting forwards Millsap and Chandler out with injuries, and an example of how quickly fortunes can shift during the NBA’s regular-season marathon. It’s unknown how long Chandler (lower back pain) will remain sidelined, potentially making today’s contest at the Western Conference-leading Houston Rockets even tougher.
But for now, what was a frontcourt logjam has become an asset.
“We’ve had some issues as far as trying to get guys minutes,” acting head coach Unseld Jr. said before Monday’s game. “It’s a perfect opportunity for guys who haven’t had a chance to play as much as they’d like.
“We have to have that ‘next-man-up’ mentality where, ‘All right, here’s your opportunity. Make the most of it.'”
Unseld took over as the interim head coach with Malone suspended for Monday’s game.
Faried, who has traditionally paired well with standout center Jokic, finished with six points and seven rebounds in 19 minutes in his first start of the season. Unseld turned to lineups with Plumlee (five points, seven rebounds, three assists in 20 minutes) and Lyles (eight points, six rebounds in 19 minutes), a tandem that was praised by Malone during the preseason because of the way they complement each other as facilitators in the paint.