OKLAHOMA CITY – It’s not uncommon to see Denver Nuggets teammates Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr. sitting next to each other on the road in the visiting locker room due to their friendship well beyond basketball. Through the challenges of the Nuggets’ roller-coaster season that ended Sunday night, they also bonded further through their pain off and on the court.
The Nuggets’ season ended after a 125-93 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals. While playing with a Grade 2 hamstring strain, Gordon somehow logged eight points and 11 rebounds in 25 minutes. Porter finished with six points while missing all four 3-pointer attempts after being barely able to lift his injured shoulder over his head for several weeks now due to a sprained AC joint.
Two years removed from the Nuggets winning an NBA title, the silver lining for Gordon and Porter is they have a lot of time to rest and heal.
“I never said, ‘No.’ There was never a doubt in my mind that I was going to play,” Gordon said after Game 7. “The only thing that made me doubt playing was the MRI. The MRI told me something worse than what I was feeling.”
Gordon entered the season in mourning after his older brother, Drew, died May 30, 2024, at age of 33 during a vehicle accident in Clackamas County, Oregon. Porter was one of the first friends to be by Aaron Gordon’s side after Drew Gordon’s death. Drew Gordon, a former NBA forward, was survived by his wife, Angela, and their sons Zayne (5) and Brody (2), and his eldest son, Jayden (12). Aaron Gordon changed his number from No. 50 to No. 32 in honor of his brother.
Aaron Gordon not only played through the hamstring strain but made two game-winning, buzzer-beating shots during the playoffs. When asked what he was most proud of this season, he took a moment.
“I guess just being able to compete this season without my brother by my side,” Aaron Gordon said. “I knew he was with me. I knew he was staying with me. But I think even coming out here and just competing is something that is all right.”
Said Porter: “He’s been a great friend to me. I hope he would say the same thing from me to him. He’s just been through a lot of different things on the court and also off the court. But it’s been good to lean on each other a little bit.”
AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post
Gordon has also dealt with a left calf injury since the Nuggets’ seven-game series against the Los Angeles Clippers. He suffered a Grade 2 left hamstring strain during the Nuggets’ Game 6 victory in Denver against the Thunder on May 15. A Grade 2 hamstring strain is a partial tear of one or more of the hamstring muscles and typically takes four to eight weeks to heal. Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry missed the final three games of their second-round series against the Minnesota Timberwolves with a Grade 1 hamstring strain.
With hopes of helping the Nuggets advance to the Western Conference finals, Gordon gutted out Game 7 Sunday. Had the Nuggets advanced to the Western Conference finals, it would have been uncertain if and when Gordon would have played again.
“I knew the risk, but I wanted to be out there for my team…,” Gordon said. “I couldn’t sprint. That was tough. I tried to play a real old man game. Anytime I tried to sprint, it probably was going to be at a lot of risk. I gave it my all.”
Nuggets interim head coach David Adelman called Gordon playing in Game 7 “one of the most incredible things I’ve ever seen.” Adelman has been around NBA basketball his entire life as the son of Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame head coach Rick Adelman.
“He was extremely close to not playing,” David Adelman said about Gordon. “I was surprised that they said, ‘No, he’s going to start.’ I knew there was going to be a chance. But in the back of your mind, I’m thinking, ‘This guy is not going to have it.’ He had eight rebounds at the half. He also had a double-double going down [the floor] in all that pain.
“He shot the ball. He looked so comfortable. It’s a testament to his toughness.”
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Porter was the No. 2 high school player in the country in the 2017 ESPN 100. But since attending the University of Missouri, the 6-foot-11 forward has endured three back surgeries in five years, which has made him adapt into primarily a jump shooter. Another little-known physical issue for Porter is that he has been playing with drop foot in his left foot — a side effect of his back surgeries.
Drop foot symptoms include the inability to lift the front part of the foot, difficulty walking and running, and possible dragging of toes caused by weakness in the muscles that normally lift the foot. Porter has played with a custom drop foot brace for about three years now, but he told Andscape that late in the 2024-25 regular season his most comfortable brace broke and he never was as comfortable with the replacements used.
“It snapped about 10 games before the regular season ended,” Porter told Andscape. “It was the brace I was using for three years, and I got very comfortable and confident with how I could move in that brace. When it snapped, they couldn’t find one that worked the same way.
“So, I was all over the place with my balance and my shot. It was a rough feeling because I’m a confident dude. I’m a confident shooter. I just was never able to feel comfortable [with the new brace].”
Porter also suffered a Grade 2 sprain of the left acromioclavicular (AC) joint on April 22 during Game 2 of the Clippers series. He continued to play despite being unable to lift his left shoulder over his head. Porter averaged 18.2 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game during the regular season, but averaged just 9.1 points in the playoffs.
“Just to get his arm above his shoulder was constant maintenance and work,” Adelman said. “It was really noticeable. He had a hard time rebounding with two hands, rightfully so. You can see that his shot wasn’t fluid. There wasn’t any rhythm to it. I was really proud of him. We were playing limited people and he continued to find a way to play. Some nights he made some shots. One thing he did do when he wasn’t making shots, is they do guard him and it opens up the floor. I’m really proud of Mike.
“The surgeries he’s had besides this, that guy knows how to play with pain. It’s incredible everything he goes through every night and the amount of pain he’s gone through every [season]. I know with the amount of games he has played the last two years, there is a general toughness.”
Porter said the shoulder injury kept him from taking part in his daily workout routine, including lifting weights. He had six points on 3-of-8 shooting and missed all four 3-pointer attempts in Game 7.
Looking back, Porter wondered if he would have fared better if he took some games off after suffering the shoulder injury and he “went downhill” after it.
“Honestly, looking back, I didn’t think I really helped the team,” Porter told Andscape. “So, I probably should’ve just let it heal for a few games and then try to come back. That is just not the person I am. I’ve been through a lot of different things injury-wise. I didn’t have it in me to lay down even though I wasn’t able to help the team the way I wanted to.”
With the season over, Gordon said he plans to “relax his body and mind and to refocus.” Time will tell if the Nuggets hire Adelman as head coach and what changes are made to their roster. Gordon called his teammates “a great group of guys” and said that he’s “excited for the future.” Nuggets free agents include Russell Westbrook (player option), Vlatko Cancar, DeAndre Jordan, Dario Saric (player option), Trey Alexander (two-way), PJ Hall (two-way), and Spencer Jones (two-way). The Nuggets have $201 million in projected salary next season with no first-round pick in the 2025 NBA draft, according to Bobby Marks, NBA Front Office Insider for ESPN.
The Nuggets weren’t the only team plagued by injuries in the postseason. Gordon noted that NBA All-Stars like Curry, Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (Achilles), and Milwaukee Bucks guard Damian Lillard (Achilles) were sidelined by injury, too. Gordon believes NBA players are suffering “fatigue-based injuries” and that playoff teams should be given more days off between games. The Western and Eastern Conference finals will be on one day’s rest in between games after Game 1.
“Health is a lot,” Gordon said. “I would really appreciate it if there were a couple of days in between games in the playoffs regardless of if you go seven games. I understand if you do your work early and you’re the first team [to win the series], you get time off.
“The product of the game would be a lot better … just by giving all these professional athletes one more day of rest. You would see a higher level of basketball, probably less blowouts.”