Mason Plumlee undergoes MRI, will play vs. Pelicans

Denver Nuggets center Mason Plumlee (core strain) underwent an MRI but is available to play tonight against the New Orleans Pelicans.

Plumlee, 27, is averaging 6.1 points and 4.0 rebounds in 15.4 minutes per game for Denver this season. Malone believes he might have injured himself in a practice this week and it will be “a pain tolerance thing” for the 6-foot-11 big man going forward. Nuggets’ coach Michael Malone learned about the injury after shootaround Friday morning.

“As far as I know, all the MRI results came back positive for us. He should be able to go tonight,” Malone said. “And obviously, tonight is a game that we will need him.”

Going forward, it will be “a pain tolerance thing” for Plumlee and he’ll surely be called upon for more than the six minutes he played in Monday night’s 17-point loss in Portland against the Pelicans.

New Orleans boasts the league’s best frontcourt in Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins, both of whom are putting up All-Star caliber seasons so far.

Malone also noted that he would consider using forward Juancho Hernangomez in his rotation tonight. After playing a combined 13 minutes over Denver’s first two regular-season matchups, Hernangomez missed the Nuggets’ next ten games after he contracted mono and the Nuggets don’t want to play him meaningful minutes until they feel that he’s at full strength.

Hernangomez has been practicing and is inching closer to a return to Denver’s rotation, which could come tonight.