Nuggets forward Aaron Gordonwho suffered a calf strain on Wednesday after missing 10 games due to the injury early in the season, is expected to miss the “next few games,” according to the head coach Michael Malone told reporters today (Twitter link via Harrison Wind of DNVR Sports).

Malone doesn’t expect Gordon to be sidelined as long as he was with his last calf injury, tweets Vinny Benedetto of the Denver Gazette. While the Nuggets coach was hesitant to suggest a timeline for recovery, he said Friday that the club believes Gordon identified the problem before it got worse.

While the Nuggets will lose a regular starter Saturday against Cleveland, guard Jamal Murray was considered available, according to the team, after being listed on the injury report due to his right ankle sprain (Twitter link).

Here’s more from Denver:

• Nuggets star Nikola Jokic seems increasingly frustrated with the team’s supporting cast, according to Troy Renck of The Denver Post, who points to several examples of Jokic’s desperation on the court during the Christmas Day game against Phoenix and suggests that the team’s decision-makers, including the general manager Calvin Booth and governor Josh Kroenke“You better watch out.” So far this season, Denver has outscored 208 points in Jokic’s 929 minutes of play and outscored 125 points in the 430 minutes he hasn’t played.
• The Nuggets rotated through backup centers frequently early in the season, but have stuck with it DeAndre Jordan in that role lately, as The Denver Post’s Bennett Durando points out. The veteran big man has played between nine and 15 minutes in each of Denver’s last eight games, and the team has a perfectly balanced net rating in those minutes (+0.0), which equates to a win when Jokic is not on the court. “We’ve sort of settled into our backup five at the moment with DJ, so I think that helps. You know, “Is it?” Dario (Saric)? Is it Zeke (Nnaji)? Is it DJ?’ Right now it’s DeAndre Jordan. Malone said earlier this week. “And he plays well for us and tries to make the boys more and more comfortable so that the chemistry on the pitch is right. But I think if this (second unit) can go out there and hold its own defensively and perform offensively – even if we’re not scoring goals, just creating good shots (and not turning the ball over) – then we’ll give ourselves a chance.”
• Neel Gantawho had worked in the Nuggets’ front office since 2022, most recently as the team’s basketball strategy/analytics coordinator, is returning to Illinois to become the school’s new men’s basketball general manager, sources tell Jake Fischer of The Stein Line ( Twitter). Link). Ganta was previously an assistant for the Fighting Illini.