The Nuggets’ jack-in-the-box lost his spring because of his hamstring.
Twice this season his right leg has betrayed him. He has missed 39 games. Only 20 remain. Denver is 9-11 in its last 20.
It has led to the uncomfortable question: Can Aaron Gordon save the Nuggets’ season?
What once was certain has become an unconvincing maybe.
Gordon is expected to return Friday against the Knicks, part of a stretch that includes games against the Thunder, Rockets, Spurs and Lakers. Contrary to popular opinion, neither Nikola Jokic or Jamal Murray are the most critical players on the Nuggets.
It is Gordon. Recent losses to the Clippers, Thunder, Timberwolves have driven this point home.
Yes, getting Peyton Watson in the lineup, perhaps this weekend, will help.
But Gordon is the piece that makes the puzzle fit, the Polaroid shake that brings the picture into focus. When Gordon has played this season, the Nuggets are 17-6.
“We can’t wait to have everyone back. Hopefully, it is soon,” guard Bruce Brown said. “We need their help.”
It feels too late. The Nuggets have felt off for too long. They remain an offensive juggernaut. But there are too many times they couldn’t get a stop if they posted an octagon sign in the lane or dangled red traffic lights over the top of the key.
It is clear the Nuggets are not winning anything without Gordon. Not a championship. Not a second-round series. They are 21-18 without him.
Gordon provides versatility, length, the ability to guard forwards and centers. And no one has played off the strengths of Jokic and Murray better, whether it is cutting for alley-oops or draining, without flinching, a cold-blooded 3.
Gordon avoiding setbacks, however, is no longer a sure thing.
He has had six soft-tissue issues with his hamstrings and calves over the past two seasons. He believes not properly processing the grief of his brother’s passing has contributed to his run of injuries.
Watching Gordon drain jumpers after Wednesday’s practice provided hope that the worst is behind him. But the fact that he was not back Thursday sent a chilling reminder about the rest of the season, of the tightrope the embattled medical staff and coach David Adelman are walking.
“What’s enough to get you into the tournament, which is the most important thing. Also, what is the most important thing to make someone as healthy as possible for something that could be out there?” Adelman said. “We are balancing that.”
The deepest Nuggets team has been reduced to this: One muscle strain in the back of Gordon’s leg and they will be an easy mark in the postseason well before their goal of returning to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2023.
They are already in a bad place. Lose to the Lakers and they fall into a tie with Los Angeles for the sixth spot in the Western Conference.
With the toughest schedule left, there is no guarantee that the Nuggets — a team that began the season with the second-best odds to win a championship — will avoid the play-in tournament. You know the faux games you have to win just to gain entry into the actual playoffs.
Just putting Denver in that sentence is an insult.
Not to Adelman.
At this point, he values availability over everything, including a clutch win after so many late-game pages to Dr. Heimlich.
“People dwell on stats that don’t matter to me. Wins and losses matter to me. Whether we lose a close game or lose by 25, we lost. I think our clutch numbers will come back up if we are fully healthy because what we run makes more sense,” Adelman said. “We have been searching, trying to find more space for more guys. I really believe that confidence in each other is going to help us at the end of games with the way we are being guarded. But, somebody else is going to have to make a big shot.”
That somebody is Gordon. Perhaps Watson can help. And maybe Christian Braun and Cam Johnson, cast in proper roles, will figure it out after experiencing underwhelming seasons because of injuries and ineffectiveness.
Gordon is the real connector, the multiplier, the finisher.
But asking a 30-year-old with balky legs to carry this burden is dangerous, if not foolish. Commissioner Gordon is supposed to send out the Bat-signal, not answer the beacon of distress.
Do you really think the Nuggets can finish ahead of the Rockets and Timberwolves in the standings? Does anybody think the Nuggets can get hot with only six games left against opponents with losing records?
Remember, Gordon is not going to morph into Cal Ripken Jr. He will probably play 12 to 15 games down the stretch. And maybe once in the three back-to-backs, though no one would complain if the Nuggets nixed that idea since that is how they found themselves in this predicament in the first place.
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Adelman has discussed the need for urgency with his players, something that became amplified with losses to OKC and Minnesota. And now there is something else at work, the matter of toughness. When the Nuggets face the Thunder on the road Monday, their mettle will be at stake.
OKC’s Lu Dort said he recognized, upon review, why the Nuggets had a problem with his cheap shot on Jokic last Friday. To a man, the Nuggets did not accept his accountability or quasi-apology.
It sets up the biggest game of the season.
If the Nuggets meet the moment, their situation will not seem so dire.
“Getting guys back, playing good, winning games. We need everything,” Jonas Valanciunas.
They need Gordon.
If he has two healthy legs, maybe, they won’t have to run from the ugly truth that this season is becoming.
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