Key Nuggets rotation player is already missing time with a hamstring injury

Spencer Jones tweaked his hamstring and sat out Friday's training camp practice, he sat out the preseason opener

Oct 5, 2026, 3:41 PM

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For the Denver Nuggets, a new season is starting with an old problem.

Last year’s season was undone in part by hamstring injuries to Denver’s power forwards. Aaron Gordon and Peyton Watson were both out for parts of the playoffs. Now, before the regular season has even started, power forward Spencer Jones has a hamstring injury of his own.

Jones tweaked his hamstring and sat out Friday’s training camp practice. Nuggets PR said an MRI showed a left hamstring strain. He missed Sunday’s preseason opener, a 109-97 loss to the Utah Jazz in Boulder. He’s listed as day-to-day, but the team plans to be careful. He could miss several or even all five preseason games so that he’s ready for the Oct. 22 opener at Oklahoma City.

“So far, he’s reacting well to (treatment),”David Adelman told reporters before Sunday’s game.

That opener will feature the Nuggets and not just their rival but the team that tried to steal Jones away this summer.

Jones is entering his third season with Denver and his first full year on a standard contract. He went undrafted and played sparingly as a rookie on a two-way deal. He came back last season on the same deal, became a key part of the rotation and earned a promotion to the full roster. This summer, Oklahoma City signed him to a two-year offer sheet, and Denver matched it to keep him. At $5.875 million a year, he’s now the highest-paid reserve expected to play regular minutes. Only Zeke Nnaji makes more off the bench.

Jones was largely unknown when the 2025-26 season began. He went on to play 70 games across the regular season and playoffs, starting 40. He only missed time because of his contract status and a brief concussion. Those minutes opened up because Gordon was limited to about 1,100 minutes over 39 games and Watson, the rising backup, played just 54 games.

That put Jones on the floor a lot with Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and the rest of Denver’s core, and gave him an important defensive role. The 25-year-old was good enough, played hard and shot well. That earned him more than another year in the league. It earned him a raise.

Jones factors to be an important part of the Nuggets rebuilt bench, which stars DeMar DeRozan and is bolstered by Marvin Bagley III.

Murray also sat out Sunday’s game for personal reasons.

The Nuggets play the Jazz again, this time in Utah, on Tuesday in an exhibition.