In this current era of Nuggets basketball, the team has had a pretty clear hierarchy. Nikola Jokic is essentially the sun, in that everything revolves around him. Jamal Murray has been the second star, at times not quite living up to that standard, but consistently raising his game in the playoffs.
After that, we’ve seen a small core of strong role players like Aaron Gordon, Michael Porter Jr., Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Christian Braun, and others. Then after that, it’s been a smattering of bench players, trying to fill in the gaps and supplement the stars and role players.
There’s been plenty of talk about the Nuggets’ core eventually molding into a “big 3” and either adding a third star or seeing one of the team’s players emerge to take that role. The idea was that MPJ would develop into that third star. He was an elite prospect in high school before his injuries, and came into the league with a high ceiling.
He showed off an amazing shooting ability at 6’10”, and it was clear that if he could develop some playmaking ability and improve his defense, he could blossom into a star who could score 20+ points a night playing alongside Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray.
MPJ star leap may never happen
But it’s year six now for MPJ, he’ll be 27 in two months, and his progress seems to have stagnated for the most part. He’s an elite shooter and can step it up and have big games, but he is still an inconsistent player; he still struggles on the defensive end, and his ballhandling and playmaking haven’t improved dramatically.
Sadly, I don’t think that star-leap is happening, but what if the third star has been there in plain sight all along? Aaron Gordon, Mr. Nugget, has been a glove-in-hand fit since being traded to the Nuggets, becoming a perfect Swiss Army Knife, doing all the little things to help the team win.
Maybe Gordon has been the “third star” all along
This season, Gordon has taken on an even larger role on both ends of the floor and has had a career-year shooting the ball at a ridiculous 44% from three, which is by far a career-high. In the playoffs, somewhat by default, David Adelman has leaned on Gordon even more than usual, and AG has risen to the challenge and then some.
In this series, he has been tasked with defending Kawhi Leonard and Ivica Zubac, protecting the rim, battling on the glass, and providing scoring. He has gone above and beyond, and helped lead the team to a 3-2 lead as only a star could.
Through five playoff games against the Clippers, Gordon is averaging 18.2 points and 6.2 rebounds, shooting 49% from the field and 40% on threes. His defense has been impeccable, he made the biggest play of the series with his buzzer-beating alley-oop to win Game 4, and he has been a consistently steady presence whenever his team needs him, despite playing through a calf injury.
It has been amazing to see Gordon step up when his team needs him, and the fact that he’s able to rise up on both ends with this level of consistency is a major part of the reason the Nuggets have a great chance to win this series and advance in the playoffs.