Nuggets PF out indefinitely after suffering Christmas Day dog bites
Aaron Gordon's Christmas Day started out as merry, as the power forward helped the Denver Nuggets defeat the Golden State Warriors on Monday with a 16-point, 10-rebound double-double.
The rest of the holiday didn't go as planned, however, and now the reigning NBA champions will be without the three-time Slam Dunk Contest competitor for the foreseeable future.
Gordon was selected fourth overall by the Orlando Magic in the 2014 NBA Draft after one season at the University of Arizona. Gordon and the Wildcats earned a No. 1 seed in that year's NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament and advanced to the Final Four before falling to Wisconsin in overtime, 64-63.
He spent his first six-plus pro seasons with the Magic before being traded to the Nuggets in March 2021.
After playing in just five playoff games during his tenure in Orlando, Gordon has teamed up with star point guard Jamal Murray, two-time MVP center Nikola Jokic and others to get Denver to the postseason in each of the years since he arrived from the Eastern Conference. After the Nuggets were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs in 2021 and the first round in 2022, the team put it all together in their championship run last season.
Gordon played in all 20 playoff games for Denver last spring/summer and was particularly good in the Finals against the Miami Heat, posting 14.0 points, 7.4 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game across five contests, along with a .604/.556/.467 shooting line.
In 28 games this season, the 28-year-old is third on the team in rebounds (6.9) and minutes per contest (32.0) and fourth in points (13.6) and assists per game (3.4). Gordon is also second only behind Jokic in offensive rebounds with a career high 2.8 per game.
Monday was the big man's sixth double-double of the season and ninth straight game where he scored in double figures.
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