The league has suspended Nuggets power forward J.J. Hickson without pay for the first five games of the upcoming season, Chris Dempsey of the Denver Post reports (Twitter links). The suspension is for an undisclosed violation of the league’s drug policy. The team is aware of the violation, but isn’t expected to comment, Dempsey tweets.
Hickson is in line to be the primary backup to Kenneth Faried at power forward, and in his absence Darrell Arthur will most likely handle the reserve duties. This suspension will cause Hickson to miss contests against the Pistons, Kings, and Cavs in Denver, and road games against the Thunder and the Kings. He’ll forfeit a prorated portion of his approximately $5.382MM salary for this season, though all of it will continue to count against the cap for the Nuggets.
In six seasons in the league, Hickson has averaged 10.1 PPG, 7.2 RPG, and 0.9 APG. His career shooting numbers are .509/.000/.637.