Nuggets’ Aaron Gordon exits Raptors game with apparent lower-body injury
As if the Denver Nuggets weren’t already struggling to begin the season, the hits keep on coming for a team that’s in desperate need of getting into a rhythm. Compounding matters for the Nuggets amid Jamal Murray’s concussion battle, Denver saw Aaron Gordon exit their Monday night clash against the Toronto Raptors at the 7:44 mark of the first quarter.
Per ClutchPoints Nuggets beat reporter Rachel Strand, Gordon was favoring his leg and then proceeded to head back to the locker room with a trainer. On the team’s official account on X, they announced that the 29-year-old forward will not be returning to Monday’s action with what the team called a calf strain.
As Strand pointed out, Gordon was already on the injury report prior to their game against the Raptors, with the Nuggets forward dealing with a right knee contusion and right calf inflammation. It certainly seems as though Gordon tweaked something in his right leg two plays prior to the timeout that saw Denver take him out of the game.
The Nuggets opted to bring Peyton Watson in for Gordon to at least help replicate the athleticism the team needs from their frontcourt partner alongside Nikola Jokic. But there’s simply no replacing Gordon’s glue-guy contributions for a Nuggets team that he has elevated since his arrival in 2021.
Gordon has been one of the Nuggets’ shining stars to begin the 2024-25 season. Tasked to do more scoring in the aftermath of losing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Gordon has been a revelation to start the new campaign. Entering Monday night, Gordon has been averaging 17.5 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 3.5 assists on an incredible 55 percent shooting from beyond the arc.
With Murray already out, the Nuggets could ill afford an injury to another one of their key players. Their depth is already limited as it is, but requiring a bench player to step up amid the possibility of an extended absence from Gordon could stretch Denver even more thin.
The Nuggets could go a few different directions to try and stem the tide amid the absences of Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon. They could go hyper-offense, with Julian Strawther in to take the bulk of Gordon’s minutes to give
the team some semblance of spacing. Or perhaps they could go with Peyton Watson like they did in the early goings of their game against the Raptors.
Whatever setup the Nuggets go with will have plenty of drawbacks. For one, Watson has struggled to shoot the ball to start the year, and Denver is already finding it difficult to score in the halfcourt as it is. A lineup with Russell Westbrook, Christian Braun, and Watson would allow opponents to clog the paint with little consequence.
