Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon has Friday’s game vs. New York circled as a target date for his return from a hamstring injury, a source close to the player tells Sam Amick of The Athletic.
While Gordon hopes to be back on the floor for that contest, Amick cautions that he’ll need to get clearance from the Nuggets, who are being “understandably cautious,” given that the veteran forward has dealt with repeated hamstring issues this season.
Gordon initially sustained a Grade 2 right hamstring strain in November and missed 19 games as a result of the injury before returning in early January. After a few weeks back in Denver’s lineup, he aggravated the strain on January 23 and was once again ruled out for at least four-to-six weeks. He has been out for the team’s past 16 contests.
While Gordon isn’t an All-Star like Nikola Jokic or Jamal Murray, he’s a crucial role player for the Nuggets, who have badly missed him in his absence, Amick notes. The Nuggets are 17-6 in games Gordon has played and have a +14.0 net rating in his 642 minutes of action this season. By contrast, the club is 21-18 without him and has a modest +1.9 net rating when he’s not on the court.
Head coach David Adelman expressed optimism last week that injured players like Gordon and Peyton Watson – who is recovering from a hamstring strain of his own – would be able to return with roughly 20 games left in the Nuggets’ season. The club played its 62nd game on Monday in Utah, and a report on Sunday indicated that both Gordon and Watson were ramping up their activities and would be reevaluated this week.
The Nuggets, who have held a top-three spot in the Western Conference for most of the season, have slipped to fifth in recent days, having been surpassed by Houston and Minnesota, so they’ll be eager to get Gordon and Watson back in the rotation and try to move back up the standings.
Be careful, AG – if you reinjure it the Nuggets won’t get past the top 2 teams in the playoffs.