As two Nuggets starters inch closer to a return, another will replace them in street clothes on the sideline. Cam Johnson is expected to miss at least four to six weeks after hyperextending his right knee Tuesday in Dallas, the team announced before hosting Minnesota on Christmas. Johnson underwent an MRI that revealed a bone bruise on Wednesday — not the worst outcome after he limped off with a knee injury could’ve resulted in structural ligament damage. Still, Johnson will be Denver’s third starter to miss a stretch of four or more weeks this season. Aaron Gordon (hamstring) and Christian Braun (ankle) have not played in December. “The initial conversation was, ‘Hey, maybe it’s not as bad as it looked.’ Then there’s like this optimistic (viewpoint that) maybe it’s only a week or two. And then you get the real thing,” coach David Adelman said Thursday night. “I didn’t really know what to expect, so you’re try not to be emotional about it. Because anything can happen with an injury like that, a non-contact, where he can be done for the season or whatever it is. … I just felt for him personally.” The Nuggets fly to Orlando on Friday for the start of a seven-game road trip that Adelman has circled as the earliest opportunity for either Braun and Gordon to return. As of Christmas, he says he’s unsure which player is closer to being cleared to play. “They both did some on-court work today,” the first-year coach said. “I was upstairs. I watched it casually. They looked pretty much in the same place. … It’s one of those things that just because other guys got hurt, you can’t hurry their process. So we just have to do what we have to do right now. And I like the group we have. All year long, there’s been no crazy ups and downs emotionally. We’ve just gotta continue to do what we’re doing.” Mentally, yes. The Nuggets have managed their injuries with impressive poise, leaning on Peyton Watson and Spencer Jones to fill out the starting lineup and Tim Hardaway Jr. to maintain his production off the bench. Tactically, though, Adelman recognizes that he has to be malleable with his rotations and play style when three different starters are absent from the lineup. “You have an intelligent ‘guesstimation’ of a new rotation to play. I think you have to give it a couple of games. Let’s just say it doesn’t go well today; you can’t just say, ‘OK, well let’s scrap it,'” Adelman said. “So yeah, we’ll just reinvent ourselves as we go here. I’m looking at this as just another chapter in the season, you know what I mean? It’s what it is. I feel for Cam, man. I just felt like his trajectory was just going up. Not the stats; just how he was playing. He was a high-minute guy for us, helping bridge the gap between the starters and the second unit.” Johnson, 29, is averaging 11.7 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game in his first season as a Nugget. Denver traded Michael Porter Jr. and a future first-round pick for him in June. He started the season in a nasty shooting slump but turned a corner around mid-November, helping the Nuggets to an 10-5 record in games without Gordon and Braun. In his last 17 games — including Tuesday’s loss in Dallas when he suffered the injury — Johnson was averaging 14.6 points on 52.3% shooting from beyond the arc. He started staggering with Denver’s bench unit more frequently as Adelman tried to navigate the ailing health of his rotation, a tweak that allowed Johnson to grow comfortable by playing with the ball in his hands more. In the starting lineup, Johnson has been figuring out his place as a spot-up threat and dangerous off-ball movement shooter next to Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray. “Our two best players are playing outlandishly well,” Adelman said. “So we’ll just find a new way to do it.” Related Articles How Jon Wallace became Nuggets co-general manager while running his family’s cattle operation Cam Johnson’s knee injury turns out to be bone bruise, but Nuggets lose another starter for Christmas Keeler: Nuggets’ Peyton Watson delivered Christmas gift this Denver family won’t forget Nuggets start game on 19-0 run, hold off Utah Jazz in bounce-back win Nuggets’ Tamar Bates out 12 weeks after surgery for fractured foot Perhaps the biggest looming area of concern regarding Johnson when the Nuggets traded for him was his injury history, which includes a surgery on a right knee in 2022 to repair an injured meniscus. He missed 89 combined regular-season games over the last three years with Brooklyn and Phoenix. As for who starts in Johnson’s place long-term, Adelman didn’t commit to anyone specifically on Thursday. “We talked about it. We went a million different ways today talking about the rotation,” he said. “It’s not about who starts, honestly. Tim (Hardaway Jr.) is a great choice. We talked about that. Also, Tim has been absolutely incredible off the bench. So it’s like, whoever I start nightly, it’s going to be not because of who should start and who shouldn’t. It’s trying to find the best way to rotate the group that makes the best sense to stay in the game and win the game.” Want more Nuggets news? Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis. ...read more read less