Kenneth Faried, who has been held out of the Nuggets' last two games for rest, may not play in the team's season finale Wednesday against the Trail Blazers, Chris Dempsey of The Denver Post reports. "For me, I'm just trying to get my body healed back righ

Faried, who has been held out of the Nuggets' last two games for rest, may not play in the team's season finale Wednesday against the Trail Blazers, Chris Dempsey of The Denver Post reports. "For me, I'm just trying to get my body healed back right for USA Basketball," Faried said of his mindset heading into the final week of the regular season.

Analysis:

Both Faried and coach Mike Malone seem to be on board with the rest plan, as the forward has played through a variety of nagging ailments this season, and there's little to gain by playing him in the final stretch of the campaign with the Nuggets headed for the draft lottery. With Faried out of the lineup the last two games, Malone has experimented with Jusuf Nurkic and Nikola Jokic as his starting frontcourt pairing, and that figures to remain the case Wednesday. Assuming the starting duo along with Darrell Arthur and Joffrey Lauvergne can sufficiently cover all the frontcourt minutes Wednesday, look for Malone to leave Faried on the bench once again.