Nuggets’ Cam Johnson avoids catastrophic knee injury

The Denver Nuggets are among the best teams in the Western Conference. That is despite the Nuggets sustaining several major injuries. Tuesday night, the injury bug struck again, this time hitting forward Cam Johnson.

Johnson suffered what appeared to be a very serious knee injury in a 131-130 loss to the Dallas Mavericks.

But on Wednesday, the Nuggets finally received a bit of good news on the injury front. The results of Johnson’s MRI came back clean of any structural damage, per USA Today’s Michael Scotto. Only a bone bruise was detected, prompting optimism that the forward could return relatively soon.

Johnson went down in the fourth quarter of Tuesday’s game, immediately grabbing at his knee. Nuggets head coach David Adelman did not sound overly optimistic following the loss. But he, and the rest of the team, can finally breathe a sigh of relief.

There is no specific timetable yet for his return. But he should be back on the court sometime in the near future. That is especially important given the injuries the Nuggets have sustained this season. Christian Braun has only played in 11 games this season. Aaron Gordon, who was in the midst of a breakout campaign, has only played in 13.

That put an even larger emphasis on Johnson’s role as the team’s third scorer behind Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray.

Denver and the Brooklyn Nets completed a blockbuster trade that sent Michael Porter Jr. and an unprotected 2032 first-round pick in exchange for Johnson.

The former Nets wingman had a very slow start with the Nuggets. But since taking on a larger role, Johnson has finally begun to fit into the offense. He is averaging 15 points on 50% shooting and 51% from downtown over his last 16 games.