Denver Nuggets lose rotation player for at least a month

Denver Nuggets guard Julain Strawther will miss the rest of March with a left knee sprain after going down with the injury against the Boston Celtics on Sunday. The team released information saying that Strawther will be re-evaluated for the injury in four weeks.

Strawther was having a rough go of it in the contest before his injury and has had some struggles with his play as of late. Still, the sophomore was just in the Rising Stars Game, and his shooting is a big asset for the Nuggets. From deep, Strwather is hitting at 36% this season, tallying 9.4 points per game lover his 61 contests.

It’s the second time in as many seasons the former Gonzaga Bulldog will miss a significant amount of time with a knee injury, going down last year in January with a right knee issue that cost him a month and kept him from finding firm footing in the Nuggets rotation down the stretch.

This time, the injury to Strawther’s other knee will keep the 6-foot-7 guard sidelined for Denver’s most important part of the season and will make it difficult for him to get a rhythm for the playoffs, which begin in about six weeks.

This injury has opened the door for fellow second-year guard Jalen Pickett. The player out of Penn State is much smaller and has played far fewer minutes but has been solid over the last month when called on. Since the start of February, the 6-foot-4 Pickett has played in 11 games for 15 minutes a night, scoring four points and adding two helpers while shooting 36% from three. He offers more playmaking and a slower, more methodical game that comes with on-ball steals as opposed to Strawther’s flame-thrower approach on offense while he uses his length on defense.

Stinks to see Julian go down with another knee injury. Nuggets will likely turn to Jalen Pickett off the bench in that role now. pic.twitter.com/Fi688lRLfi

— Jake Shapiro (@Shapalicious) March 4, 2025

Strawther will be missed. The Nuggets are taking the fewest threes in the NBA, and despite hitting on the third-highest percentage of their deep balls—Denver takes so few that they have the lowest ratio of their points from behind the arc in the league. Strawther is third on the team with 263 threes taken.

Denver’s depth is also an issue, with Vlatko Cancar and DaRon Holmes missing almost all of this season. Aaron Gordon has had two multi-week absences and has sat out the last two games, Russell Westbrook missed a good chunk, and even Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray have had periods off. All the while, Peyton Watson has also been out since the start of February, though his return is coming. This has left the Nuggets particularly short on the wing, and the team may have to turn to Hunter Tyson again or try something new with Strawther done for a while.