SACRAMENTO — What a difference three days can make.

On Sunday, Nuggets coach Brian Shaw was staring at the prospect of having to replace three projected starters in his lineup for Wednesday night’s season-opening game against the Kings. Now, he’s down to just one.

It’s down to just one because guard Ty Lawson, who is dealing with a groin injury that put a grim early outlook on his status, is expecting to play tonight. He went through a light shootaround Wednesday morning.

“Between now and the game, anything can happen but I asked him how he was feeling and he said he was ready to go,” Shaw said.

Asked if he would play, Lawson said “Yeah.”

But he is not out of the woods. It will be a hobbled Lawson on the court, as he won’t be 100 percent. He’ll use pre-game warmups to determine just how ready he is. He said the tightness he experienced in the groin while running early in the week has subsided.

“I really haven’t practiced or anything,” Lawson said.

“I’m going to go hard in shootaround before the game, when I come out and shoot, and see how it really feels. It’s just going out there and seeing what I can do moving, moving laterally and things like that. “

Christopher Dempsey: cdempsey@denverpost.com or twitter.com/dempseypost