Nuggets, Christian Braun, Aaron Gordon, Nuggets injury news
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Aaron Gordon #32 (R) and Christian Braun #0 of the Denver Nuggets celebrate a basket during the third quarter of Round Two Game One of the 2025 NBA Playoffs against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Paycom Center on May 05, 2025 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
The injury-ravaged Denver Nuggets are about to get two key starters, Aaron Gordon and Christian Braun, back in the lineup imminently.
Both Gordon (hamstring) and Braun (ankle) have been upgraded to questionable for Sunday’s away game against the Brooklyn Nets, which will mark the first meeting of the season against former teammate Michael Porter Jr.
The update comes at a crucial time when Nikola Jokic (knee bone bruise), Jonas Valanciunas (calf strain) and Cameron Johnson (knee bone bruise) have all been sidelined for at least a month, leaving the Nuggets with a very thin rotation.
Nuggets Injury News
While there’s no guarantee Gordon or Braun will be back for Sunday’s game, it’s a huge step in their recovery to be upgraded for the first time in nearly two months.
While Braun has been sidelined since the Nov. 12 game against the LA Clippers, Gordon has been out since the Nov. 21 contest the Houston Rockets, when he went down with a grade 2 hamstring strain early in the first half.
Gordon was on pace to potentially be named a first-time All-Star, averaging 18.8 points and 5.9 rebounds on super-efficient shooting splits of 53/44/86. As for Braun, the fourth-year guard continued to establish himself as Denver’s best perimeter defender, even though his offensive stats took a dip from his breakout season last year.
Nuggets Have Missed Gordon, Braun
Gordon (+12.7) and Braun (+10.9) led the Nuggets in plus/minus in their 13 and 11 games, respectively, when they were on the floor before their injuries.
Furthermore, the Nuggets (23-11) had a record of 10-3 with Gordon and have since gone 13-8 without the heart and soul of the team. Similarly, they had a record of 9-2 with Braun and have since gone 14-9 without the athletic shooting guard.
In their absence, the likes of Peyton Watson and Spencer Jones have done an admirable job for the Nuggts. Watson, averaging career-highs across the board, has tallied 13.7 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 19 games as a starter with a plus/minus of 6.8. Second-year forward Spencer Jones has also stepped up in a big way, tallying 8.9 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists from 19 games as a starter.
Crucially, both Watson (39% from three) and Jones (41% from three) have been knockdown shooters for the Nuggets, who lead the NBA in 3P% after 34 games.
“You just keep reinventing yourself all the time. That’s what you do as a team,” Nuggets head coach David Adelman said of the Nuggets injury woes, via The Denver Gazette.
“We’re going to have to be creative. We’re very thin right now. That’s just the way it is.”
Adelman also heaped praise on Jones, Watson and other Nuggets second-unit players for stepping up during the injuries to Gordon, Braun and Jokic.
“It’s the NBA, so you have to recreate yourself over and over and over again. I’ve been really proud of the guys on both ends. We’ve kind of recreated ourselves slowly over time.”