The Denver Nuggets second-year star, Carmelo Anthony, missed Monday nights game due to an ankle sprain he suffered last Saturday after encountering a bear-hug from Bob Sura of the Houston Rockets.

He is currently undergoing treatment and hopes to play in the highly anticipated game versus LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

According to Mike McGraw of the Daily Herald, a league source confirmed that Denver has an interest in Bulls shooting guard Eric Piatkowski as a potential replacement for Voshon Lenard, who is out for the year with a torn Achilles' tendon.

If Denver decides that Nene no longer fits in, a logical trade could be Chandler and Piatkowski for Nene, Nikoloz Tskitishvili and Rodney White. Tskitishvili's contract is up and there's a good chance he won't stay with the Nuggets regardless.

Tskitishvili has been a disappointment throughout his short career in Denver.

The Denver Nuggets paid a heavy price for their win on the road over the Houston Rockets Saturday, losing star forward Carmello Anthony with a sprained ankle during the third quarter.

Chris Tomasson of the Rocky Mountain News writes that with 2 minutes, 21 seconds remaining in the period and the Nuggets leading 62-48, Anthony was wrapped up by Rockets guard Bob Sura to prevent an easy basket. Anthony crumbled to the floor, and had to be helped to the locker room.

X-rays on Anthony were negative, but he left the arena on crutches. He first said he would miss Monday's home game against New Orleans, but later said there's a "50-50 chance" he'll play.

"I just remember him grabbing me and I fell and stepped on his ankle," Anthony said. "There was a little soreness in it (due to stepping on Bruce Bowen's foot in Friday's 89-75 loss to San Antonio)".

Sura didn't feel the foul was excessive. But Anthony did.

"The way he grabbed me and, yeah, and he just threw me down," Anthony said. "I was in pain."

On Tuesday night three men were arrested for trying to extort $3 million from Denver Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony.

Joubert Santos and Jason Pabon of the Bronx, and Rodrigo Sanchez of South Orange, N.J., had a videotape that showed Anthony fighting at a Manhattan nightclub in September with a man known as Sugar Ray, police said.

The fight broke out after Ray spit a drink on Anthony's girlfriend, MTV host La La Vasquez, said Jane Yin, a spokeswoman for Anthony's agent, Calvin Andrews. Ray and Vasquez were once engaged.

No one was hurt in the fight, but the three men demanded $3 million from Anthony in exchange for the tape. A meeting was set up Tuesday night near Central Park with an undercover police detective posing as a representative for Anthony, said Sgt. Michele Irizarry, a police spokeswoman.

A check was handed over, and Santos, 29, Pabon, 26, and Sanchez, 36, were arrested and charged with grand larceny and criminal possession of stolen property.

"I just found out today that they were arrested. So I'm happy the police handled it the best that they could," Anthony said after the Nuggets beat New Jersey 90-88 Tuesday night.

Carmelo he had been worried about the situation.

"It would be something anybody would think about. It is a lot to handle. Things happen for a reason," he said.

Denver and the Bulls have discussed a trade that would send fourth-year big man Tyson Chandler to the Nuggets, according to two league sources.

The trade discussions add to the increasing belief that general manager John Paxson will trade either Chandler or Eddy Curry between now and the February trade deadline.

The Knicks have been rumored to be involved in Curry talks.

It is likely that the Nuggets would have to deal Nene along with Nikoloz Tskitishvili, whose fourth-year option was recently declined by Denver.

It didn't take long for Dallas to be plagued again by injuries.

After getting Erick Dampier and Jason Terry back from injuries, Dallas lost Dirk Nowitzki when the All-Star forward stepped on the foot of Denver forward Nene late in the second quarter. Nowitzki couldn't put any weight on his foot as he was helped to the locker room and will have an MRI on Monday.

"We don't know how bad, but it is not good," Dallas coach Don Nelson said. "We can't catch a break with injuries. We have done well up to this point, but like I said before, the one guy we can't afford to lose is Nowitzki and now we have lost him for a while."

Nowitzki ended up playing just 18 minutes, scoring 11 points.

Prosecutors dropped a marijuana possession charge against Denver Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony on Wednesday, saying it would be tough to get a conviction after a friend claimed the drug was his, not Anthony's.

Anthony was charged with possessing less than one ounce of marijuana on Oct. 15 after a bag with the drug was found in his backpack as the team waited to board a flight to Milwaukee for a preseason game.

Anthony said the drug belonged to a friend, James Cunningham. Cunningham signed an affidavit saying it was his.

Cunningham said he borrowed the backpack without Anthony's knowledge and accidentally left the marijuana in it.

City attorney Cole Finegan said Cunningham's affidavit was forwarded to police for a decision on whether to issue him a citation.

"Carmelo is happy to have been vindicated by the case being dismissed," said Anthony's attorney, Daniel Recht. "From the beginning, he has said he was innocent and never intended to possess the marijuana."

Shortly after Anthony was charged, Nuggets general manager Kiki Vandeweghe sent Cole a letter saying Anthony had passed four random drug tests last season and his tests from U.S. Olympic Committee at the Athens Games this summer were also negative.

"He has passed every drug test with the Nuggets because he does not take illegal drugs," Recht said. "The case has upset Carmelo a great deal because he does not want his fans, especially the kids, to get the wrong impression of him."

With Eddy Curry requesting a trade, John Paxson is a busy GM.  He is receiving phone calls from a plethora of his colleagues trying to lure Curry away from Chicago.

Nikoloz Tskitishvili, Minnesota's Michael Olowokandi and Wally Szczerbiak, Phoenix's Bo Outlaw and the Knicks' Nazr Mohammed were some of the names offered, but Paxson kindly declined on those packages.

According to the New York Daily News, Paxson would be interested in dealing with the Knicks if they included Kurt Thomas or Mike Sweetney along with Mohammed.  If Curry goes to New York he will be yet another Bull to join Isiah's club.

Center Marcus Camby became the latest Denver player afflicted this season with injury when he strained his left hamstring on a fast-break dunk against the Detroit Pistons on Thursday night.

Camby, who played in 72 games last season, did not play in the second half, and if recent precedent is any indication, he could be out for at least two weeks.

Nuggets power forward Nene has not played since aggravating a hamstring strain Nov. 2. He is not expected to return until sometime next week.

Forward Nikoloz Tskitishvili missed almost all of training camp because of hamstring and knee problems.

The Nuggets will know more about Camby's status today. If he is sidelined for an extended period of time, they probably would activate Mark Pope or Arthur Johnson from the injured list.

The Denver Nuggets have activated F Nikoloz Tskitishvili from the injured list, General Manager Kiki Vandeweghe announced today.  The team also placed G Voshon Lenard (torn left Achilles tendon) on the injured list.

Tskitishvili was placed on the injured list on 11/1 due to a strained right hamstring.  He averaged 3.5 ppg and 2.0 rpg in 39 contests last season.