An occasion Nuggets fans have waited almost four months to celebrate might finally be near.
As Aaron Gordon and Peyton Watson inch closer to returning from their respective right hamstring strains, Denver is within range of a fully healthy rotation for the first time since last Nov. 12. That was the night Cam Johnson and Christian Braun both suffered injuries in Los Angeles, the 11th game of the season and the last time David Adelman was able to play his opening day starting lineup.
“My hope is that we get the full group with 20 games to go. That would be what I pray for nightly,” Adelman said Tuesday. “Just so we can actually see what it is. We have the 10 games. We have the start of the season. Those 10 games were very successful. We were 8-2. We statistically were as good as anybody in the NBA. But that’s been a long time coming. So I don’t know what we’ll be when everybody gets back. But we need to play.”
Gordon and Watson were at Ball Arena for conditioning work and some full-contact playing with Denver’s assistant coaches on Monday, Adelman said. When the full team got together for an official practice Tuesday, Gordon “did basically everything but the contact stuff.” Adelman didn’t specify the precise extent of Watson’s involvement, but the 23-year-old wing posted a message on social media saying “back soon.”
Twenty games remaining, to literalize Adelman’s idealistic vision, would be next Thursday, when the Nuggets host the Lakers. How realistic is that?
“I’m putting a lot of pressure on people (with that goal),” Adelman said, slowing his roll. “Maybe we can get there.”
Gordon’s hamstring is the far greater concern to team officials. He already has injured it twice this season — first in November, then on Jan. 23 while playing the second game of a back-to-back in Milwaukee. Over the last two seasons, the starting power forward has missed 66 games with a variety of soft tissue injuries, including a left hamstring strain that he suffered during the 2025 playoffs.
The Nuggets have met with Gordon this week to discuss his return plan, league sources told The Denver Post, as they try to balance his eagerness to play with their broader interest in being cautious ahead of the playoffs. Denver’s defensive rating this year is 9.6 points better with Gordon on the court than with him off it.
“We did some situational defensive drills. He was a part of that,” Adelman said Tuesday. “But it’s just going to be a day-by-day thing. And I think the more he gets out there and gets up and down and plays with contact, even if it’s against our coaches, that’ll bring more confidence for everybody to feel comfortable with him coming back. But Aaron has been great. He’s understood the process. And I think all of you understand how frustrating this has been for him. He sees us losing games that he could be a part of. He sees us winning games that were completely joyful, like Portland, where everything went our way, and he’s not a part of either.
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The Nuggets (36-22) have lost six of their last nine games as they prepare to host Boston on Wednesday. That game will tip off one of their most challenging weeks of the season, with Oklahoma City and Minnesota also looming. All three teams have star forwards that Gordon would ordinarily match up against — Jaylen Brown for the Celtics, Jalen Williams for the Thunder and Julius Randle for the Timberwolves.
“We have to make sure he’s right,” Adelman said. “I said that before. He came back. He got hurt. I’m gonna say it again. We’ve just gotta do everything we can to get him right for that last stretch to make him feel comfortable going into some huge games.”
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