Maybe 2026 will be kinder to Denver on the injury front, because the end of 2025 was brutal. Including on the last day of the year.

Already down four starters — including MVP frontrunner Nikola Jokic — the Nuggets had his replacement at the five, Jonas Valanciunas, leave Wednesday’s game in Toronto with what the team called a calf strain. Valanciunas was in a boot postgame, and his comments were concerning.

With Valanciunas out, coach David Adelman had no choice but to go with small-ball lineups the rest of the way, which worked because Peyton Watson stepped up with 24 points and eight rebounds. Adelman sounded postgame like a guy who has been there and done that with injuries lately.

“They said it’s a calf strain. I don’t know how serious it is,” Adelman said postgame. “We’re getting used to this. It seems every night someone has something. The cool thing about it is there is somebody else to get an opportunity from it, and that’s how we have to look at it…

“Hopefully Jonas heals up correctly, hopefully it’s not serious, just like I said the other 19 times this month.”

The Nuggets are already without starters Jokic, Aaron Gordon (hamstring strain), Christian Braun (ankle sprain) and Cam Johnson (knee hyperextension).

If Valanciunas has to miss time, don’t be surprised if the Nuggets fill their open 15th roster spot with a free agent center, otherwise it leaves just DaRon Holmes and Zeke Nnaji to play the five.

Denver faces Cleveland on Friday.

The Chicago Bulls will be without their two leading scorers for at least the next week, and in Josh Giddey’s case, it will be longer.

Giddey has a strained left hamstring and will be re-evaluated in two weeks, the Bulls announced. Although it’s a safe bet he will be out longer than that. Chicago also will be without point guard Coby White for the next week due to calf soreness. Both suffered their injuries Monday night in a loss to the Timberwolves.

The Bulls have a packed schedule with nine games in the next 14 days.

Giddey and White are tied for the team lead in scoring, averaging 19.2 points per game. Giddey also leads the team with nine assists a game (White is at 4.7) and the Australian is dragging 7.8 rebounds a game. Giddey is a borderline All-Star in the Eastern Conference, although his play has trailed off since a fast start.

The Bulls have built an ethos around depth and having the next man step up, at least that has been the plan of executive vice president of basketball operations Artūras Karnišovas, who believes that having 9-10 good players is better in the regular season than having a couple of great players but then a sharp talent drop off. That will get put to the test in the next couple of weeks.

The Bulls have lost their last two games but won five in a row before that and sit ninth in the East at 15-17. They are just 1.5 games above falling out of the play-in entirely, with one of the teams chasing them being a Milwaukee side that just got Giannis Antetokounmpo back.