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Nuggets' Emmanuel Mudiay: Will come off the bench Thursday

Mudiay (back) will come off the bench for Thursday's game against the Kings, Harrison Wind of BSN Denver reports.

Analysis:

It appears coach Michael Malone decision to bring Mudiay off the bench will be more than a one-game experiment, even though the second-year point guard has fully recovered from back spasms, which have kept him sidelined for 11 of the 14 games. While Mudiay has been out, Nelson has generally turned in more productive stat lines than the 20-year-old had earlier in the season, and especially so in the four games leading up to the All-Star break. In those contests, Nelson averaged 16.8 points, 9.5 assists, 5.5 boards and 3.0 three-pointers in 35.5 minutes per game, and though he'll stand to see a slight drop in playing time now that Mudiay is available, Nelson should hold down the fort on the top unit if he's able to come close to maintaining that level of production. Look for Mudiay's minutes to fade to the 18-to-25 range now that he's coming off the bench, which likely won't be enough playing time for him to make a regular fantasy impact outside of mid-sized or deeper formats.

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