{"id":449867,"date":"2026-01-31T16:32:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T16:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/449867\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T16:32:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T16:32:12","slug":"nuggets-nikola-jokic-dominates-clippers-in-1st-game-since-knee-injury-on-dec-29","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/449867\/","title":{"rendered":"Nuggets&#8217; Nikola Jokic dominates Clippers in 1st game since knee injury on Dec. 29"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2031686\" class=\"wp-image-2031686 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2258570917-scaled-e1769834522451.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1442\" height=\"810\"  \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-2031686\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nikola Joki\u0107 is averaging a triple-double for the second straight season.<\/p>\n<p>DENVER (AP) \u2014 The Denver Nuggets finally have some beneficial news on the injury front \u2014 big man Nikola Joki\u0107 is back on the court.<\/p>\n<p>And how.<\/p>\n<p>Joki\u0107 returned to the starting lineup Friday night against the LA Clippers in his first game since suffering a knee injury on Dec. 29. Playing on a minutes restriction, the three-time NBA MVP finished with 31 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and three assists in 25 minutes as the Nuggets won, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/game\/lac-vs-den-0022500695\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">122-109<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Joki\u0107 has missed 16 games since limping off the floor just before halftime at Miami. He was diagnosed with a hyperextended left knee, with the Nuggets saying at the time the three-time NBA MVP would be re-evaluated in four weeks. ESPN first reported the plan for Jokic to play Friday.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Just in on NBA Today \u2014 Denver Nuggets&#8217; Nikola Jokic returns for tonight&#8217;s game against the Clippers: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/VoSbKk9yaA\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/VoSbKk9yaA<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShamsCharania\/status\/2017329603610612016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">January 30, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The knee injury interrupted one of Joki\u0107\u201ds finest seasons. He\u2019s averaging 29.6 points, 12.2 rebounds and 11 assists while shooting a career-best 43.5% from 3-point range.<\/p>\n<p>His return Friday helps keep him eligible for major individual NBA awards this season. Should he play all the remaining games, he would finish with 66. He needs to appear in 65 of Denver\u2019s 82 games to be eligible for most awards like MVP and All-NBA.<\/p>\n<p>The 30-year-old Joki\u0107 has finished first or second in the MVP balloting in each of the last five seasons.<\/p>\n<p>Joki\u0107 was hurt against the Heat when teammate Spencer Jones stepped on his left foot. The center from Serbia fell to the floor and grabbed at his knee before limping toward the locker room.<\/p>\n<p>Denver has gone 10-6 in his absence.<\/p>\n<p>Joki\u0107\u2019s return would be a boost for a Nuggets team that just lost Aaron Gordon after the high-flying forward reinjured his right hamstring. Gordon is expected to be out at least a month. Christian Braun (left ankle) and Cameron Johnson (right knee) remain sidelined.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nikola Joki\u0107 is averaging a triple-double for the second straight season. DENVER (AP) \u2014 The Denver Nuggets finally&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":449868,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,232706,85],"class_list":["post-449867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-nikola-jokic-return","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=449867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/449868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}