The Denver Nuggets will open their regular season without key reserve Julian Strawther, after the team confirmed Friday night that the guard sprained his left knee during Wednesday's preseason loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. Denver said Strawther will be reevaluated in six weeks, a timeline that rules him out for the start of the campaign and threatens to sideline him well into November.
How the Injury Happened
Strawther went down in the third quarter of Denver's 122-110 defeat at Intuit Dome, hurting the knee while handling the ball. His leg got caught beneath his body and bent awkwardly as he landed, and he did not return to the game. An initial MRI revealed the sprain, and while a follow-up scan left the Nuggets cautiously optimistic that Strawther avoided season-ending ligament damage, the club confirmed in a press release that he faces at least six weeks on the sidelines.
Nuggets coach David Adelman did not hide his frustration after the game. "All you can do is hope for the best," Adelman said, adding that it was tough to see a player who had been "working their ass off all summer" go down with an injury just days before the opener.
A Blow to Denver's Bench Depth
Strawther was projected to be a rotation piece off Denver's bench this season after a productive sophomore campaign. He appeared in 57 games a year ago, averaging 7.2 points, and has started 18 games across his career since being selected 29th overall in the 2023 draft. His absence removes a reliable scoring option just as the Nuggets prepare to open the season on the road against the Oklahoma City Thunder next Thursday.
With a six-week recovery window, the earliest realistic return for Strawther would fall around the Thanksgiving period, meaning Denver will need to lean on other bench contributors to fill the gap in scoring and perimeter depth during the opening weeks of the schedule.
Contract Timing Adds Another Layer
The injury arrives at an awkward moment off the court as well. Strawther was eligible to sign a rookie scale extension through October 19, a deadline that has already passed. Without an extension agreed by Monday, he would be ticketed for restricted free agency in 2027. How the injury factors into any future negotiations remains to be seen, but it adds an extra layer of uncertainty to a situation the Nuggets front office will be monitoring closely alongside his on-court recovery.
For now, Denver's immediate focus is managing the rotation without Strawther as the regular season gets underway, with the team expressing hope that the six-week projection holds and that he returns without further complications.
