The Nuggets are back at home Wednesday night with a chance to steady themselves after a 3-3 start, but the matchup with Toronto comes with a few injury wrinkles on both sides.
Denver is coming off a loss to the Portland Trail Blazers and still hasn’t beaten a team with a winning record. That’s the kind of early-season line that starts to draw attention fast, and the Raptors won’t be an easy fix.
Toronto enters at 4-3 and is wrapping up the third game of a four-game road trip, but the numbers say this group is better than the record. The Raptors rank top seven in the NBA in both offensive and defensive rating, which makes them a tough out even before you get into the personnel issues.
For Denver, Cameron Johnson is back on the injury report after being left off it in the previous game. He is listed as probable with lower body injury management.
Johnson had missed three straight games before returning for the Nuggets’ last two contests, and he appeared to tweak something at the end of the loss to Portland when he limped off with what looked like a hamstring issue. The team appears optimistic he avoided anything serious, but it was enough to keep him on the report.
Denver’s full injury report also includes Spencer Jones, who is out with bilateral hamstring injury management.
The Nuggets did get another positive update with Alpha Diallo listed as probable. Diallo missed four games after getting hurt in the Nuggets’ season opener, then returned in the loss to Portland. He now looks set to play again, though Denver still won’t have key reserves Spencer Jones and Julian Strawther.
Toronto’s biggest issue remains Kawhi Leonard, who will not play Wednesday. Since Leonard’s injury, the Raptors have dropped three of their last five games and are 1-2 against teams with winning records this season. They could also be without Jakob Poeltl, who is questionable with left shoulder bursitis.
Toronto has started Ja’Kobe Walter in Leonard’s place in each of the past five games, and Collin Murray-Boyles would likely enter the starting lineup if Poeltl can’t go.
Even without Leonard, the Raptors still bring plenty of punch with Scottie Barnes, RJ Barrett, and Immanuel Quickley, so this one isn’t a night Denver can afford to treat casually.
Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. MT in Denver.
In Other News...
Nuggets Are Suddenly Linked To A Trade That Could Fix A Real Need
The Clippers rough start to the 2026-27 season has already pushed them into a familiar place for a struggling team: listening on useful veterans, even ones who have held up well individually. Kris Dunn has been one of the brighter spots in Los Angeles, but with the team sitting at 1-6, his name has started to surface in trade chatter, and that has naturally opened the door for other clubs to circle.
For Denver, the fit is obvious enough to make the idea linger. The Nuggets have been looking for ways to shore up the backcourt defensively, and Dunn would check that box in a way few available guards can. The proposed framework would send Zeke Nnaji and draft compensation to the Clippers, a price that reflects how much value a defense-first guard can carry when a contender thinks it has found a real roster need. [Read more 🡒]
Nuggets Got The Response They Needed From An Unexpected Source
The Nuggets finally got the kind of response they had been waiting for at home, and it came against a Toronto team with a winning record. Denver rolled to a 128-109 victory, leaning on Nikola Jokics usual all-around dominance while also getting a surprising boost from rookie Bryce Hopkins, whose energy off the bench helped keep the offense humming.
Jokic controlled the game with a triple-double, but the night also stood out because of how efficiently Denver scored overall. The Nuggets shot 62% from the field and still managed to win comfortably despite making only nine three-pointers, a reminder that when the ball is moving and the paint is open, this team can look a lot closer to the version it expected to be. [Read more 🡒]
Nuggets Have An Early Problem That Keeps Putting More On Jokic
The early-season trend has been hard to miss for Denver: the Nuggets are giving away too many possessions on the defensive glass, and Nikola Jokic is being asked to cover for it more often than he should. Through the first six games, the drop-off has shown up in Jokics rebound numbers and in the teams broader ranking near the bottom of the league in defensive rebounding, a problem that has already started to shape how opponents attack them.
Jamal Murray acknowledged the issue after the loss to Portland, pointing to the need for the group to do more to support Jokic on the boards. For a team built around Jokics all-around brilliance, the concern is less about one rough night than the accumulation of extra work it creates, especially when the Nuggets are already chasing rebounds at a level that leaves little margin for error. [Read more 🡒]