LOS ANGELES — J.J. Hickson flashed his trademark smile, then coolly answered the question: Are you ready for bigger minutes?
“Oh, I’m ready,” Hickson said. “I’m ready.”
Hickson, a reserve Nuggets center, is likely in line for extended minutes in Tuesday night’s game against the L.A. Lakers due to back injuries to rotation players Joffrey Lauvergne and Nikola Jokic. Both are game-time decisions, and only Lauvergne was able to go through some parts of the morning’s shootaround.
“I’m still hopeful that they’ll be able to go tonight, but backs are a tricky thing,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “They got treatment all day yesterday. But we’ll have a better, more definitive answer closer to game time. See how the rest of the day goes, the treatment that they take, see how they react to the pre-game.”
Hickson has played just three minutes in one game this season — Sunday’s loss at Oklahoma City. But in those three minutes? A point, a steal and a rebound.
At his best, Hickson is a high-energy, rebounding machine. But he’s fallen out of the rotation, as minutes at center have gone to Lauvergne and Jokic.
“I give him credit,” Malone said. “He’s been a pro in the regard that he hasn’t played, he’s not in the rotation right now. But J.J. has been engaged, he’s worked hard, and if we have to call upon him tonight I have no doubt that he’ll be ready to play.”
Christopher Dempsey: cdempsey@denverpost.com or @dempseypost
