Denver Nuggets

The Denver Nuggets have reportedly closed their practice facilities because of positive coronavirus tests. 

Per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the Nuggets' facilities were closed Saturday and could reopen later this week after members of the Nuggets' traveling party that will head to Orlando, Florida, for the season restart tested positive for the virus. 

Wojnarowski added the "next few days of testing" will determine when the Nuggets will reopen their training facilities to players and coaches.

Branislav Jokic, the father of Nuggets All-Star Nikola Jokic, confirmed to Nova.rs (h/t Eurohoops.net) his son is doing well after being diagnosed with COVID-19: "We are all fine. Nikola is fine. It's been a week. What he had is gone. He is not showing symptoms. He is with us, and everything is fine."

Wojnarowski and Brian Windhorst reported on June 23 that Jokic, who returned to Serbia during the NBA hiatus, is expected to receive clearance "within a week" to travel to Denver. 

Under the NBA's return-to-play format, the 22 teams included in the Orlando restart began conducting coronavirus tests June 22, and mandatory individual workouts are scheduled to start Wednesday. 

Teams will travel to Orlando between July 7 and 9, with training camps running from July 9 to 21 before games start July 30. 

The Nuggets (43-22) will head into the NBA restart as the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference. 

Denver Nuggets guard Will Barton is among the NBA players who are concerned the league will not do enough for social change in its planned Orlando return.  

"I don't see us going down there and wearing George Floyd T-shirts before the games and then after a game, being interviewed, saying we need to change," Barton told Mike Singer of the Denver Post. "I'll tell you right now, I don't really see that helping. I feel like it's too late in the ballgame. We've been going through this for 400-plus years now. I feel like the only way for real change is going to come is a revolution."

Barton expressed his frustration over the lack of progress against racism and police brutality against Black people at several points in his interview with Singer, noting a desperate need for change. He said he agreed with concerns expressed by Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving, who gathered around 80 players on a conference call earlier this month to push back on the NBA's planned return.

"If the things that are true that came out about what he said about trying to organize the players and question what are we doing down there, how things are going to be done, and if we should actually go, I agree with him," Barton said. "At the end of the day, with so much stuff going on in the world right now with a pandemic, racism, I feel like you have to question those things and challenge those things. I don't think he did nothing wrong."

Irving reportedly highlighted the potential distraction from the fight to end systemic racism in the wake of nationwide protests after George Floyd's killing as his overarching concern. 

"I don't support going into Orlando," Irving said on the call, per Shams Charania of The Athletic "I'm not with the systematic racism and the bullshit. ... Something smells a little fishy. Whether we want to admit it or not, we are targeted as black men every day we wake up." 

Barton said he believes basketball may help push social justice causes out of the national spotlight. The NBA and NBPA have said they plan to emphasize social justice upon the season's return, but Barton believes the fight for racial injustice may "fly under the radar" when people have a distraction.

Barton did not indicate whether he plans on sitting out but was steadfast that a "revolution" is needed to create real change in the United States. 

Since the Los Angeles Lakers are in the market for a shooting guard before the 2019-20 NBA season resumes next month, Nick Young is offering to play for his former team. 

On Tuesday, Avery Bradley told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski he won't join the Lakers in Orlando, Florida, because of family concerns, prompting a two-word response from Young on Instagram:

Unfortunately for Swaggy P, the Lakers appear to be looking in a different direction to fill Bradley's roster spot. Wojnarowski reported Wednesday that JR Smith is a "leading candidate" to sign with Los Angeles. 

If for some reason Smith and the Lakers can't work out an agreement, Young knows the organization as well as any available free agent. He played with them for four seasons from 2013 to '17. 

Young averaged a career-high 17.9 points per game during the 2013-14 campaign and shot a 37.7 percent from three-point range in 220 games with Los Angeles.      

PJ Dozier will join the Denver Nuggets in Orlando, Florida, when the NBA season restarts after the sides reportedly agreed to a deal Wednesday. 

Per Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium, Dozier will receive a full contract and take the Nuggets' final roster spot. 

Per Charania, teams are allowed to carry 17 players for the season restart. 

Dozier originally signed a training camp contract with the Nuggets as a free agent last August. He received a two-way deal at the end of the preseason and was assigned to the G League. 

Denver recalled Dozier from the Windy City Bulls on Jan. 15 after Jamal Murray injured his ankle. The 23-year-old appeared in 21 games before the season was suspended March 11. He averaged 4.1 points, 1.4 rebounds and 1.4 assists per contest. 

Dozier was averaging 21.4 points, 7.7 rebounds and 7.3 assists in 18 games for the Bulls in the G League before being called up. He has also played for the Oklahoma City Thunder and Boston Celtics since going undrafted out of South Carolina in 2017. 

The Nuggets are the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference with a 43-22 record. 

Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic tested positive for COVID-19 in his native Serbia, but his father provided a positive outlook regarding Jokic's health.

Speaking to Nova.rs (h/t Eurohoops.net), Branislav Jokic said the following regarding his son's status: "We are all fine. Nikola is fine. It's been a week. What he had is gone. He is not showing symptoms. He is with us, and everything is fine."

According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski and Brian Windhorst, Jokic is expected to be cleared to travel in one week provided he tests negative for the coronavirus twice in a matter of 24 hours. Once that happens, Jokic can fly back to the United States for the resumption of the 2019-20 NBA season.

Jokic was pictured standing next to Nikola Jankovic, a center for KK Partizan in Serbia, at a basketball exhibition in mid-June. Jankovic later tested positive for COVID-19.

Tennis star Novak Djokovic was also at the event and has since tested positive for the virus.

NBA teams are slated to have a short training camp in their respective markets before traveling to Orlando, Florida, on July 7. The season is set to resume July 30.

Players who test positive will be subject to quarantine and must pass multiple tests in order to become eligible to play.    

When the 2019-20 season resumes, the Nuggets will be third in the Western Conference at 43-22. Denver and 21 other teams will play eight regular-season games each before the playoffs begin.

Before the season was suspended in March because of the coronavirus pandemic, Jokic was averaging 20.2 points, 10.2 rebounds and 6.9 assists per game.

Bleacher Report's David Gardner interviews athletes and other sports figures for the podcast How to Survive Without Sports.

Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic may have been exposed to the coronavirus after attending a basketball exhibition game in Serbia last week.

Nikola Jankovic, a center on KK Partizan, tested positive for the virus, the team announced Monday. Photos from the event show Jokic standing near Jankovic; it's unclear if they had any physical contact. 

Jokic is expected back stateside Monday as the NBA gears up for its resumption in Orlando next month. The NBA plans to administer COVID-19 tests to players when they return to their market, so Jokic will find out soon if he contracted the virus.

Novak Djokovic also attended the exhibition. 

The NBA plans to have players return to their markets this month for short camps before traveling to Orlando, where they will be placed in a proverbial "bubble" for more training and then the resumption of the 2019-20 season. Any player who contracts the virus will be placed into quarantine.

Jokic was averaging 20.2 points, 10.2 rebounds and 6.9 assists when the NBA suspended play in March. He was coming on strong after a slow start, playing himself into shape and setting himself up for another All-NBA selection.

The Nuggets are currently third in the Western Conference standings. 

Bleacher Report's David Gardner interviews athletes and other sports figures for the podcast How to Survive Without Sports.

Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone revealed he tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies.

During an appearance on CBS4 in Denver (h/t Mike Singer of the Denver Post), Malone said he did not feel well after the NBA season was suspended on March 11 but was unable to get tested at the time.  

"I only found out after the fact," Malone said. "I was able to get an antibody test, probably right around Memorial Day weekend. Not surprisingly, our team doctor called up and said, 'Listen, you've tested positive.'"

Singer noted the NBA has allowed teams to keep positive tests confidential since the season was suspended, especially since positive tests for players such as Rudy Gobert, Donovan Mitchell and Kevin Durant made so many headlines in the initial aftermath of the hiatus.

The report also pointed out at least two people inside of Denver's organization have tested positive for COVID-19.

"It's really interesting how some people on our team and our staff and our travel party got it," Malone said. "I like to say that I got coronavirus and I kicked its butt. I was able to survive, thank goodness."

Malone has been the head coach of the Nuggets since the 2015-16 season and has a 216-177 record. He helped lead them to the playoffs last season, which was their first postseason appearance since the 2012-13 campaign.

Denver has a 43-22 record, which is the third-best mark in the Western Conference.

It is well-positioned to challenge the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers and other top teams in the conference if and when the season resumes in Orlando, Florida.

When the NBA returns next month, Nikola Jokic will seemingly be in the best shape of his life.

The Denver Nuggets center showed off a slimmed-down physique Thursday:

Jokic was listed at 284 pounds at the beginning of the season and drew criticism for being out of shape. He started shedding weight as the regular season went along and appears to have kept up his workouts over the NBA's three-month hiatus.

"He sent me a picture. No shirt on. He's got abs. I've never seen him have abs before," Nuggets general manager Tim Connelly recently said, per ESPN's Rachel Nichols.

While this video may excite Nuggets fans, Jokic has said in the past that he prefers playing at a heavier weight to avoid being pushed around.

We'll have to see whether this slimmer version of Jokic fares better than the slightly beefier one who was arguably the NBA's best center when the season got suspended.

The NBA is resuming the 2019-20 season July 31, and the Denver Nuggets are one of the squads that will take part in the 22-team format.

In a Zoom call with reporters Friday, point guard Jamal Murray expressed confidence that the Nuggets can win the franchise's first NBA Finals, per ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk:

"We know we can go win the title. Me and [center Nikola Jokic] have been in Denver this whole time, working out. ... Why not? We have proven to be one the best teams year in and year out since we have been building. We have beaten good teams consistently. We shouldn't have lost to Portland [last year in the conference semifinals]. That was more on us, our inexperience and they are a good team. But we don't think that there is a team that can beat us in a seven-game series when we are playing at our best."

Denver (43-22) is the third seed in the Western Conference, just 1.5 games back of the second-seeded Los Angeles Clippers. The sixth-seeded Houston Rockets are just four games back of the Nuggets.

Last year, the Nuggets lost to the Portland Trail Blazers in a thrilling seven-game series in the second round that featured a four-overtime thriller in Game 3 and a Game 7 that was back-and-forth until the final minute.

As Murray mentioned, last year's team was light on playoff experience, as Denver hadn't been to the playoffs since 2012-13. No one on Denver's 2018-19 roster was on that team, however.

The question now is whether the Nuggets can compete with the star-studded rosters in the West, including the LeBron James and Anthony Davis-led Los Angeles Lakers as well as the Kawhi Leonard and Paul George-guided L.A. Clippers.

Caesars Palace currently lists Denver with the seventh-best odds to win the Finals at 22-1. The Lakers top the league at 2-1, followed by the Milwaukee Bucks at 11-4.

With the games being played at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Nuggets might miss home-court advantage, which they were in the driver's seat for in at least one round. But they can still hope to land a top-three seed, which would mean avoiding the presumptive No. 1-seeded Lakers until the conference finals.

If Denver can do that and get on a roll, then winning a title isn't out of the realm of possibility, especially with the nightly triple-double threat known as Jokic manning the post. Still, the West should be a gauntlet come playoff time, and there is no easy path for anyone en route to the Finals.

Denver Nuggets forward Jerami Grant has a $9.3 million player option for the 2020-21 season, but it doesn't sound as though he'll exercise it. 

During an appearance on Yahoo Sports' Posted Up with Chris Haynes podcast, Grant sounded as though he was inclined to become a free agent.

"I'm definitely not leaning towards picking up the player option," he said (h/t Quenton S. Albertie of Fansided). "Like you said, I feel like I definitely outplayed the $9 million that I'm making each year right now. But at the same time... I'd love to come to a conclusion or something like that with Denver, it just depends what we discuss and negotiate when the time comes."

Grant added that the uncertainties presented by the COVID-19 pandemic could impact his decision. 

"It's tough though... It's tough with all this going on," he said. "It's hard to even gauge what's going on. The salary cap might drop... It might drop a lot, it might drop a little bit. So I think everything just kind of hangs in the balance of what the owners want to do, what the NBA's doing, with the rest of the season."

Grant, 26, is averaging 11.6 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game, shooting 47.1 percent from the field and a career-high 40 percent from three. Grant's on- and off-court splits are surprisingly bad, however. With him on the court, the Nuggets are outscored by 2.1 points per 100 possessions, per NBA.com. When he sits, however, they outscore opponents by 9.1 points.

That's a large difference, though some of it could be explained by Grant largely coming off the bench.

As Nick Kosmider of The Athletic wrote, "Grant has played just under 54 percent of his minutes (904 of 1,676) alongside Denver's best player, Nikola Jokic. Paul Millsap, meanwhile, whose on-off net rating of plus-12 points per 100 possessions is the best on the team this season, has played more than 90 percent of his minutes (973 of 1,075) with Jokic next to him."

There's no doubt Grant's length, athleticism and three-point shooting have been a major plus for Denver. It would make sense to keep him around for the long haul. But if Grant is worried about a depressed free agent market this offseason, returning on his player option and trying out free agency in a year might be the best business decision.