Nikola Jokic Reveals Update on Injury Before Rematch With 76ers

Originally posted on Denver Nuggets on SI | By Joey Linn | Last updated Jan 26, 2024 4:10 PM ET

Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic was accidentally poked in the eye by New York Knicks guard Donte DiVincenzo during Thursday night's game, which forced him back to the locker room where he was evaluated before eventually returning to start the second half. While Jokic was able to finish out the game, this injury remains something to monitor for he and the team, as he told reporters after the game it briefly got better before getting worse:

Nikola Jokić said his eye was painful. When we talked to him postgame he said it was getting better, but now it’s getting worse.

“Hopefully it’s going to be okay.”
— Katy Winge (@katywinge) January 26, 2024

Whether or not this will force Jokic to miss any time remains to be seen, but it would not be surprising to see him wearing eye protection the next time the Nuggets play. Injuries like this are scary, because they can always vary in severity. In Jokic's case, it looked to be a direct poke to the eye that he suffered, which made it that much more impressive that he was able to return to the game.

As Jokic told reporters postgame, his eye was in some pain, and seemed to be getting worse after initially getting better. The Nuggets will play their next game on Saturday against the Philadelphia 76ers, which is the highly anticipated rematch between Jokic and Joel Embiid. For Denver and NBA fans everywhere, the hope is certainly that Jokic will be good to go for this game, but the injury report has not yet been released.

This article first appeared on Denver Nuggets on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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