Nikola Jokic's Injury Status, Updated Timeline for Nuggets Star's Return, Eligibility for NBA Awards

Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokić is set to make his return Friday night from the knee injury that has sidelined him for over a month, according to ESPN's Shams Charania.

According to Charania, Jokić is planning to play during Friday's home game against the Los Angeles Clippers.

Jokić has not played since suffering a left knee injury during a Dec. 29 game against the Miami Heat.

The Nuggets are scheduled for a home back-to-back against the Clippers and Oklahoma City Thunder this weekend. Jokić is also "in position" to play Sunday against the Thunder, per Charania.

Jokić has appeared in 32 games so far this season. The Nuggets have 34 games remaining in the season, so his pending return could make him eligible to meet the 65-game threshold for NBA end-of-season awards.

The initial fear after Jokić hurt his knee in the first half of the Dec. 29 matchup with the Heat was that the Nuggets star had suffered a season-ending injury.

The Nuggets announced the following day that Jokić's injury had been diagnosed as a hyperextended left knee, which would not require surgery and would be re-evaluated in four weeks.

Jokić has finished as either MVP or MVP runner-up in each of the last five seasons, taking the award home in 2021, 2022 and 2024.

He looked well on his way to finishing as a finalist for a sixth straight season after averaging 29.9 points, 12.4 rebounds and 11.1 assists through the first 31 games of the season.

Jokić joined Russell Westbrook and Oscar Robertson last season as the third player in NBA history to average a season-long triple-double.

If he is able to repeat the feat in 2025-26, he would join Westbrook as the only other player to accomplish the feat multiple times.

After a 22-10 start to the season with Jokić playing every game, Nuggets have gone 10-6 over their last 16 games without their star player.

That has been enough to keep Denver in the playoff picture. The Nuggets are heading into Friday sitting at No. 3 in the Western Conference, 5.5 games back of the conference-leading Thunder and just half a game behind the second-place San Antonio Spurs.

The Nuggets could start to make up some of that ground if Jokić is able to return in time to lead them to victory over the Thunder this Sunday.