Nuggets Briefs JOKIC PROBABLY WON’T PLAY IN NEXT THREE GAMES

salt lake city» The shortterm outlook for Nuggets center Nikola Jokic’s sprained wrist isn’t great. He probably will be out the next three games, coach Michael Malone said Saturday.

Jokic missed his second consecutive game Saturday night.

“Talking to Nikola, he wants to play right when he can catch the ball,” Malone said. “I think we’ll probably be a little more cautious than that on this road trip, maybe get it looked at again just to kind of see where it’s at once the swelling goes down.”

Jokic’s play was trending up at the time of his injury. He had consecutive double-double games.

“Nikola is a big part of what we do,” Malone said, “especially with that second unit. His usage rate with that second unit and how often we put the ball in his hands to play through him, we don’t have another guy on our roster like that, especially at the big position.”

Shooting guard Gary Harris has gone through an extended warm-up in each of the last two games, and his recovery from a foot injury is progressing to the point where it’s expected he will at least start practicing at some point during this six-game road trip.

“I think he’s ahead of schedule,” Malone said. “I don’t want to say anything that would be off base. I don’t know if he’s going to be able to play at the end of this road trip. Maybe when we get back. I know that our medical staff has been very pleased about how he’s progressed with his rehab and his on-court work.”

Harris missed his 11th consecutive game Saturday night.

“Hopefully on this road trip we can kind of ramp him up and try and integrate him back into doing some things in practice,” Malone said. “And then from there, maybe get him into a game, whenever that is.”