Nuggets lead assistant David Adelman took over for Malone and said the most difficult challenge of stepping in was that “Nikola is not here.”

The Denver Nuggets will be without their MVP on Friday night in New Orleans. They face the Pelicans in their first Emirates NBA Cup game.

The Nuggets will likely be hard-pressed to acquire a rotation-worthy big man before the trade deadline — Robert Williams III, Jonas Valanciunas and Nikola Vucevic come to mind — unless they’re willing to part with young talent, which could compromise an already tenuous floor-spacing situation.