Kenneth Faried Injury: Updates on Nuggets Star's Ankle and Return
Denver Nuggets star forward Kenneth Faried tweaked his left ankle in Wednesday's 99-90 loss to the Chicago Bulls and won't be in the lineup for the time being because of the injury.
Continue for updates.
Faried Won't Play vs. Raptors
Thursday, Dec. 3
Chris Dempsey of the Denver Post provided the update on Faried's status prior to tipoff against the Raptors in Toronto. The 26-year-old big man initially sprained his left ankle late last month and first sat out a Nov. 22 loss to the Golden State Warriors. He's also been dealing with a sore back this season.
NBA Canada showed Faried gingerly walking into the Air Canada Centre:
Faried is one of the few in-house players the Nuggets have retained in recent years who's played decently. He's continued to play at a solid starter's level in 2015-16, averaging 12.3 points and 8.7 boards per contest.
Although J.J. Hickson usually starts alongside Faried in the frontcourt, the former is thoroughly experienced at the 4. With Faried out of action for now, true centers Joffrey Lauvergne and Nikola Jokic ought to see a bit more action to aid their development.
The two bigs have upside, as does rookie point guard and recent lottery pick Emmanuel Mudiay. However, those trying to replace Faried up front need to catch on fast because Denver is in the midst of an eight-game losing streak.
Nuggets head coach Mike Malone may lean on more experienced forward Darrell Arthur to be the predominant fill-in option for Faried because of the circumstances at hand.
