Paul Millsap expected to miss "several months" after reconstructive wrist surgery

Denver Nuggets power forward Paul Millsap underwent successful reconstructive surgery today on his left wrist ligament injury, the team announced.

The surgery was performed by UCHealth surgeon Dr. Frank Scott. The Nuggets did not announce a timeline for his return but did say Millsap will miss “the next several months.”

“His return to sport progression will be dependent upon consistent assessment throughout the rehab process,” the team said.

Millsap hurt his wrist in the first quarter of the Nuggets’ Nov. 19 loss to the Lakers. The 32-year-old tried to play through the pain but was ruled out after halftime. Millsap was diagnosed with a sprained left wrist after X-rays came back negative.

As of Friday, the Nuggets and Millsap were continuing to speak with Denver and Atlanta-based doctors.

“They’ve been continuing to talk to different doctors, whether it be at home in Atlanta, local doctors and deciding on the best course of action,” Nuggets’ coach Michael Malone said. “I don’t think anything has been solidified with that decision yet.”

“We miss him on defense. We miss on offense. We’ll miss having a go-to player,” Malone added. “How many games has Paul Millsap won for us this year? Just having a guy in the fourth quarter who is a security blanket, a guy that you can go to in the post that’s going to score, that’s going to get fouled and is going to make a play for his teammate. A guy like Paul Millsap, we’re going to miss his presence in the locker room, in the huddle on the court and on defense because he’s that valuable.”

Without Millsap, Denver has gone 2-1 with victories coming over Sacramento and Memphis. Friday against the Grizzlies, the Nuggets started Kenneth Faried in Millsap’s place and Denver’s offense score 104 points on 51 percent shooting.  The Nuggets also held Memphis to just 92 points. Faried scored 14 points on 3-3 shooting and pulled down nine rebounds in 31 minutes.

Faried will likely remain in the Nuggets’ starting lineup for the time being.

Last season, Denver moved to a Faried/Jokic frontcourt following a Dec. 12 loss and proceeded to go 18-13 in the 31 games where those two players started together. The pairing outscored opponents by 10.9 points per 100 possession in the 49 games they appeared in last year.

In 130 minutes this season, the Nuggets are outscoring opponents by 9.8 points per 100 possessions when Faried and Jokic share the floor.

“Kenneth knows how to space the floor and as Nikola’s up the floor with Kenneth on the floor, unlike Paul, you always have somebody rolling to the rim and working around the basket,” Malone said. “And that gives us kind of really good spacing and allows our guys to operate where we don’t have five guys on the perimeter at all times. It’s a good fit and they play off each other well.”

Denver visits Utah Tuesday night for their fourth game without Millsap, who signed a three-year $90 million contract with the Nuggets this offseason.

“The beat goes on. We have to prepare knowing that no matter what the course of action is, he’s going to be out for an extended period of time,” Malone said. “We have to find ways to win while he is out.”