The Nuggets might feel the loss of Peyton Watson most when an opposing ball-handler gets past the first line of defense and charges toward the rim, when nobody comes soaring to the rescue from the weak side. Or maybe they’ll feel it most when Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray are on fumes, when they need someone else to bring the ball up the court and set the offense.

Aaron Gordon‘s family will feel his absence on Sunday mornings.

“That’s my dog. But it’s deeper than basketball with Peyton and I, you know?” Gordon said. “Like, our family members go to the same church.”

Before running a FlexWork Sports youth basketball camp Sunday in Lakewood, Gordon briefly shared his reaction to the Nuggets’ offseason, which was highlighted by their controversial decision to sign-and-trade Watson to Cleveland for two draft picks.

“We’ll see,” an expressionless Gordon said simply when asked what he thought of Denver’s moves.

Watson signed a four-year, $88 million contract with the Cavaliers at the end of a tense non-negotiation with the Nuggets, who held his rights as a restricted free agent this summer. Watson and Gordon had vacationed together earlier in the offseason, celebrating former teammate Michael Porter Jr.’s birthday in France.

“Peyton is like my brother,” Gordon continued. “I’m happy for him, the situation that he’s in. Obviously, we would have loved to have him. But it worked out the way that it should have, that it was supposed to.”

As the churn of free agency took place around him, Gordon spent most of his summer in Denver, which he’s called home for more than five years now. The power forward turns 31 on Wednesday, and he’s coming off a second consecutive season in which soft tissue injuries limited him during the NBA playoffs. Team sources told The Denver Post that Gordon has been a consistent presence in the Ball Arena practice gym. “It’s been a lot of soul searching and training,” he said Sunday. “So I’ve got my mind right, my body right, and I’m ready to go.”

According to those sources, Gordon was also responsible for orchestrating a recent team bonding trip to Puerto Rico, where Nuggets assistant coach JJ Barea has repurposed an abandoned private school into a sports complex.

“My dream is to one day have either the Denver Nuggets or the Dallas Mavericks have training camp in Puerto Rico,” Barea told The Post last year. “It’s like an NBA practice facility. … We just finished building it, so I’m really excited about that.”

“(We held) a mini-camp,” Gordon said. “I thought we could do something out of the norm. Everybody goes to LA all the time. I wanted us to do something that was out of our comfort zone as a team, and it ended up being a good exhibition.”

Jokic, Murray and Christian Braun had prior engagements that prevented them from joining, but Gordon was able to wrangle most of Denver’s roster for the trip, including Cam Johnson, Spencer Jones, Julian Strawther, Tyus Jones, DaRon Holmes II, Alpha Diallo, Zeke Nnaji and rookies Trevon Brazile and Bryce Hopkins.

“The rookies are good,” Gordon said. “Bryce is really good. TB is really good. They can play. I’m not entirely sure where they’re gonna fit in, but they can go.”

Players have gone their separate ways since the mini-camp to enjoy their last weeks of summer freedom before training camp, which begins Sept. 29 in Boulder. Johnson journeyed to England and took in a Premier League match last weekend. Jokic has been competing with the Serbian national team in World Cup qualifiers — “I talked to him a bit,” Gordon said, adding with a smile: “Not much.” And Murray has spent some of his summer in Japan, holding events connected to his New Balance shoe deal.

Gordon has found himself pulled back toward home in Colorado.

“It would be nice to do more of these,” he said before the second session of Sunday’s camp. “This is just a one-day thing. Hopefully we can do multiple of them. This is like an inaugural. So hopefully I can do more. Denver has shown me love since the I moment I got here, and I’ve tried to repay the favor by showing passion and playing my heart out and playing the game the way I know how to play. Being the person my parents raised me to be. So hopefully I can be a role model for these kids.”

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