Going into Wednesday night, the anticipation between the Denver Nuggets game against the Houston Rockets was huge. Both teams are on a four-game winning streak

Denver was dealt an unexpected blow an hour before opening tip Wednesday when Nikola Jokic was ruled out due to right elbow inflammation.

Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic and forward Aaron Gordon are not playing in the team's home game against the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night.

Nikola Jokic was ruled out for the game with an elbow injury shortly before tip-off. In his postgame press conference Nuggets head coach Mike Malone said the three-time NBA MVP suffered the injury in warmups. He claimed it "popped up last minute." Malone had no word on how serious the injury could be as he hadn't spoken to trainers yet.

DENVER — Nuggets center Nikola Jokic injured his right elbow while warming up Wednesday night and was ruled out before Denver’s 128-108 loss to the Houston Rockets. The injury was officially listed as right elbow inflammation.

For the game, Nikola Jokic is on the injury report, but he is listed as probable, so he should be available. Jokic is averaging 31.2 points, 13.2 rebounds, 9.8 assists and 1.8 steals per contest while shooting 55.

The Nuggets have a number of players listed on the NBA injury report for Tuesday night's game against the Mavericks.

The Houston Rockets (26-12) travel to play the Denver Nuggets (24-15) on Wednesday at Ball Arena, the first game this season between the two teams. The Rockets won the season series 3-1 in 2023-24, with Alperen Şengün averaging 20.