JaVale McGee not yet ready to return to Denver Nuggets

JaVale McGee is not ready to return just yet to Nuggets

More from NBA

The Nuggets don’t expect JaVale McGee to return to full strength anytime soon as the center continues to recover from a stress fracture in his left tibia that sidelined him for 77 games last season.

Denver coach Brian Shaw said that McGee is the ‘furthest away’ of four key Nuggets players who are recovering from injuries that turned a potentially promising 2013-14 into a 36-46 campaign. Small forward Danilo Gallinari, point guard Nate Robinson and power forward J.J. Hickson missed a combined 197 games, as all three sustained ACL tears.

All four will be sidelined for the Nuggets’ preseason game against the Thunder on Wednesday night, although Chris Dempsey of the Denver Post wrote that McGee could see limited minutes during Friday’s preseason game at Phoenix. If McGee does play, it will make the first time since last November 8 that the team’s best interior defender suits up.

While Gallinari, Robinson and Hickson are slated to be ready for the October 29 regular season opener against the Pistons, the addition of McGee will be a huge boost to a Nuggets team that ranked 28th in points allowed (106.5). The initial projection on McGee’s return was late in the season, but the fracture did not heal properly.

The addition of McGee would also bolster a front court that helped Denver finish second in total rebounds last season. He would join Timofey Mosgov and rookie Jusuf Nurkic at the position, along with power forward Kenneth Faried, who received a five-year, $60 million contract extension last week.

Hickson led the team with 9.2 rebounds per game last season.

More from FanSided

Home/NBA