Ahead of a crucial game against the Houston Rockets on the second night of a back-to-back, the Denver Nuggets will be without Nikola Jokic and Aaron Gordon.

Jokic, according to Vinny Benedetto of the Denver Gazette, injured his right elbow during warmups ahead of tonight’s game.

Jokic hasn’t had an elbow issue before, at least publicly. If something happened that was notable enough to knock Jokic out of this game, that’s not a great sign. Without speculating too much on the seriousness of such an injury, there are a lot of possible issues around the elbow. The Nuggets are listing it as “right elbow inflammation” so it’s very possible it was strained in the wrong way.

We will get more information after the game from head coach Michael Malone.

As for Gordon, he was already questionable due to right calf injury management heading into tonight’s game. Malone said pregame that the Nuggets would monitor Gordon’s status ahead of the game, and him not playing on the second night of a back-to-back isn’t surprising.

How the Nuggets respond without two important frontcourt players will be interesting. DeAndre Jordan and Russell Westbrook are starting in their place with the Nuggets going small. We will see how Denver plays without the three-time MVP on a back-to-back. The Nuggets are 8-0 on the second night of back-to-backs to this point.