For any fans holding out hope that Aaron Gordon would return on the short side of his injury timeline, prepare to be disappointed. David Adelman gave an update on Tuesday and confirmed that AG will be out through Christmas, at the very least.
Gordon initially suffered the hamstring injury on November 21st in the opening minutes of a game against the Rockets, and was quickly ruled out. The team announced the hamstring strain and that he would be re-evaluated in 4-6 weeks.
But four weeks from the date of the injury would be right around December 19th or 20th, which is obviously, before Christmas. Now we know that that’s not going to happen, and if the team is already announcing this, it seems pretty clear that Gordon is not close to returning to the floor any time soon.
The certainty of Adelman’s concrete statement, coming multiple weeks ahead of the timeline, makes it seem like there’s little optimism and there hasn’t been much progress on the recovery front.
Gordon’s injuries a massive cause for concern
Since Gordon went out, the Nuggets have held the fort and are on an incredible road winning streak, but the defense has also fallen off a cliff, and they’re struggling at home. They can be good without Ag, but to be great, they are going to need him.
Perhaps they can survive another month or so of the regular season, but the sooner he is back playing with this team, the better. There’s a lot of continuity in Denver, but it’s still a new coach and staff, with new schemes, and plenty of new rotation players. This was always going to take time to gel, and the key is for things to be firing on all cylinders come playoff time.
But if the team doesn’t get enough reps, it’s going to be even tougher to hit the ground running once the postseason starts, and that’s assuming they can maintain a good seed. But in reality, this issue is way bigger than this stretch of regular-season games; it’s about Gordon’s health and viability going forward.
When he plays, he’s just about a perfect player for this Nuggets team, but for the last few years, he has constantly been in and out of the lineup with soft tissue issues. It’s calves and hamstrings on both sides of his body, and it doesn’t appear like the situation is improving.
It’s too soon to say these are chronic issues, but Gordon isn’t getting any younger. Sadly, there’s a good chance his athletic prime is in the rearview. For a player who relies so much on strength and explosiveness, that could be a tough pill to swallow, but it’s something the Nuggets need to be prepared for.
He started the year incredibly, so there’s still some reason for optimism, but with every passing day and every recurring ailment, the situation gets bleaker and bleaker.