At the end of March, the Denver Nuggets acquired Aaron Gordon from the Orlando Magic. They gave up some guard depth and a 2025 first-round pick in exchange for their new starting power forward and Gary Clark.
The move made a lot of sense as the Nuggets looked to improve upon last year’s Western Conference Finals appearance by adding an athletic defender and key piece of Orlando’s offense to the roster.
But when Jamal Murray went down for the season less than a month later, that guard depth was no longer present. Aaron Gordon was forced to make a bigger offensive impact as they went into another deep playoff run.
Not exactly an ideal scenario for Gordon to step into. The Nuggets could not create the same amount of offense essentially replacing Murray’s production with Gordon’s and it showed when the Nuggets got swept by the Suns in the second round.
With the length of Jamal Murray’s absence being unknown, let’s take a look at three things Aaron Gordon can improve on next season to put the Nuggets in the best position possible upon Jamal’s return.