Nuggets' Kenneth Faried leaves game with right ankle sprain

Nuggets’ starting power forward Kenneth Faried left Denver’s game against the Atlanta Hawks in the second quarter with a right ankle sprain. X-rays were negative but Faried will not return to the game, according to the team.

“I’m going to go check on him now,” Michael Malone said postgame. “X-rays were negative. I know that much. I don’t know much more than that. Obviously, with the injuries with Gallo, with Emmanuel and now with Kenneth, and you’ve got some other guys with restrictions. It makes like you’re kind of juggling balls in the air with a couple chainsaws in the there as well. We’ll figure it out”

Faried was in a walking boot and using crutches in the locker room, according to The Denver Post’s Christopher Dempsey.

Here’s video of the injury:

Faried, who scored one point and grabbed two rebounds in ten minutes before the injury, went down with ten minutes remaining in the third quarter with the Nuggets trailing 43-33. Faried was helped to the locker room and didn’t look to be putting too much weight on the ankle.

In Faried’s absence, expect Darrell Arthur, along with Wilson Chandler and Juancho Hernangomez to get more minutes at the four. Chandler has started Denver’s last three games at small forward in replace of Danilo Gallinari who’s been sidelined with a left groin strain. Jusuf Nurkic, who only played five minutes against Dallas and has been in and out of the rotation as of late, could see minutes as well.

Faried has enjoyed a great stretch for the Nuggets as of late, finding a groove in Denver’s frontcourt alongside Nikola Jokic. On the season, Faried is averaging 10.1 points and 8.1 rebounds in just 22.6 minutes this season, Faried’s lowest minute total since his rookie season.