MINNEAPOLIS — Timberwolves starting center Nikola Pekovic will miss Sunday's game against Denver with the same ankle issues that sent him back to Minneapolis at the end of the team's recent road trip.
Pekovic has been suffering from bone spurs in his right ankle, and he said that he'll miss the team's upcoming trip to Memphis and Charlotte. He hopes to return to the court for the game against the Celtics on Friday.
"That's what they're hoping for," Timberwolves' coach Rick Adelman said. "I know a lot of players have had that, and some can play through it. Some can't. It just depends on the pain level and how much pain he's under."
Frustrated, Pekovic said that his left ankle, which he sprained earlier in the season, is sore only because he's been compensating by putting more weight on it because of the bone spurs. The injuries have been a frustrating cycle of for the 290-pound center, and he's now looking at a longer-term solution.
"I play for five games, and then at the end of a game I start feeling really bad pain," Pekovic said. "I try to do something more, play some more games, but I really can't go into next season with this thing."
Right now, he's hoping to rehab the ankle enough over the next week so that he can finish out the season on it, and offseason surgery may be the only permanent solution.
With Pekovic -- whom Denver coach George Karl referred to as "the big kid" -- out, the Nuggets may play a smaller lineup in Sunday's matchup.
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