Good afternoon and welcome back to Locked on NBA Daily.

On today's show, the NBA world wants to know how bad is Nikolokic's injury.

Meanwhile, which teams have the most at stake in 2026?

And we wish happy birthday to LeBron James.

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Hello and welcome back to Locked-on NBA Daily, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, now the number one sports podcast network.

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Thanks so much for making Lockdown NBA your first listen every day. I'm Wes Goldberg, and today we're talking about Nikol Yokic's injury, all-star first returns, and which players have the most at stake in 2026. And we're doing it with the help of lockdown's local experts. and I have two of the best with me as always from the Lockdown Nuggets podcast.

He's a senior NBA writer for the Action Network.

It's Matt.

It's the two of the best with me as always. From the Lockdown Nuggets podcast, he's a senior NBA writer for the Action Network. It's Matt Moore, Matt. It's the end of the year. It's a time when people start to take stock of their lives. I would just advise you to leave your livestock alone. From the Lockdown Bulls podcast, he's also a Bears and Bulls creator for Ble report it's his you know taking stock and reviewing 2025 i realized i wasn't as petty as i needed to be in 2025 i need to be back to 2024 pettiness so look out for that in 2006 it's a great resolution up the petty scale in 2026 um We do have to start with the big news from last night.

Nikoliyokic went down with a left knee injury in the second quarter of the Nuggets lost to the heat last night.

A weird play where Spencer Jones steps on his left foot.

Yokic is trying to make a move.

He ends up hyper extending that left knee. He goes down in a heap,

limps to the locker room, does not return to the game. And then it's announced right before

we started recording here that he's going to be reevaluated in four weeks for a left knee

hyper extension. Here's more from Lockdown Nuggets. I think the biggest thing is they just

have to find a way in the meantime to reestablish another identity. And like, you know, it's not a positive spin. You know, I don't really do positive spend some stuff like this just because I think it's more important to be honest with the people, you know, just for people to be able to kind understand what the thing is and you have to move on with the right information. I do think there is something to finding an identity in the next couple of weeks without Yokic, you know. And if it is a week, two weeks, a couple months, you're going to be forced to do so. And I think Jamal, who've had 20 and 11 today, by the way, had 11 assists in this game. So like, this is going to be an opportunity for everybody else to be able to step up and

David Adam and to be able to step up for them to really be able to fortify what this team

looks like without Nikola Yokic.

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