Not great news on the injury front for the Denver Nuggets as Will Barton exited the game against the New Orleans Pelicans early on Sunday night after suffering a left ankle sprain. Barton sprained his ankle at the 9:26 mark of the fourth quarter after suffering a tough foul on a drive to the basket.

Barton shot two free-shows after drawing the foul, but quickly had to foul a Pelicans player to get subbed out of the game. Before exiting the game, Barton scored nine points on 3-of-7 shooting from the field, 2-of-5 from three to go along with four rebounds and three assists.

Just last week, I wrote about how Barton could be an x-factor for the Nuggets to close the season as long as he could stay healthy. Barton has played in 57 of the Nuggets 64 games this season and there is no telling if he will miss any time after suffering his ankle injury. The timing is pretty bad from a Nuggets perspective as they play four games this week including another game tomorrow and a back-to-back with Sacramento and Golden State on Wednesday and Thursday.

Hopefully it’s just something minor and Barton won't miss any time cause the Nuggets could definitely use him in the lineup with the number of games they have the schedule coming up.