Aaron Gordon to be away from team after sustaining face, hand lacerations from dog
Denver Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon will be away from the team for the foreseeable future after sustaining face and hand lacerations from a dog bite on Christmas Day, Nuggets reporter Harrison Wind of DNVR Sports, a local sports network, reported Wednesday.
According to NBA insider Shams Charania of The Athletic, Gordon, in “good condition,” suffered “serious dog bites” to his face and right shooting hand that required nearly two dozen stitches–21, to be exact.
Gordon, 28, was averaging 13.6 points, 6.9 rebounds, 3.4 assists and one steal in 32.0 minutes per game, shooting 52.5 percent from the floor with a true-shooting percentage of 56.5 percent. Gordon tallied 16 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and one steal in the Nuggets’ 120-114 win over the Golden State Warriors on Christmas, converting on seven of his 10 field goal attempts.
Gordon’s arguably Denver’s top defender and one of its most important role players. He played an integral role in their title run last year, averaging 13.3 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists in the postseason. Though he was mainly tasked with defending the other team’s best wings–such as Anthony Edwards, Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, LeBron James and Jimmy Butler, among a few others.
He’s appeared in at least 80 percent of his team’s games in four of his last five seasons. So he’s been able to stay relatively healthy. Now, Christian Braun, Peyton Watson and Julian Strawther–as well as Michael Porter Jr. and the rest of Denver’s wings–are expected to supplement production in Gordon’s absence in lieu of this very unusual, yet unfortunate injury.
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