Nuggets forward Gordon is sidelined again with a hamstring injury, but he believes the root cause goes deeper than basketball.
DENVER — For the second time this season, Mr. Nugget, as he’s affectionately known, is missing at least a month with another hamstring injury. In all, Gordon’s missed about half of Denver’s games, dating back to last season, with soft tissue injuries. Last year, it was a calf injury that plagued him for most of the season.
In his mind, it all comes back to the unexpected death of his older brother in May of 2024.
“I haven’t been the same person since,” Gordon told 9News in an exclusive one-on-one interview. “I think it is manifesting itself in injuries, in soft tissue injuries. I think losing my brother has done something. It’s showing up viscerally in my body because your body doesn’t lie. Your body can’t lie, and as much as you’d like to trick your mind, your body remembers. So now it’s just about working, about exorcising those uncomfortable memories and sufferings so my body can let go and relax and do what it needs to do because right now, it’s holding on, and I’m pulling stuff.”
During Gordon’s absence last season, he was open about how basketball, despite being his job, is therapeutic for him – providing an escape and release from the struggles of life. Fortunately for him, when it’s taken away from him, he as other outlets. Gordon’s a painter, a singer and rapper, an uncle and a long-time believer in mental health.
“I was maybe 11 when I first got introduced to it,” Gordon said about focusing on his mental health and meditation. “I was so nervous as a kid. I was a freshman playing varsity and playing against older guys made me nervous, so I had to figure out a way to calm myself down before games, and breath work and meditation was the way to do that.”
Shortly after that, he started studying eastern philosophy, which helped show him the connection between the trauma of losing his brother and the injuries that’s been dealing with for the past two seasons.
“The mind-body connection is a real thing,” he said. “People hold tension everywhere throughout their lives, whether it be their shoulders, their back. Mine happens to be my hamstrings.”
Now, Gordon’s trying to help others focus on their mental health. He partnered with UCHealth to record guided meditation guides that are available on the UCHealth app and on Spotify.
“I know I’m not gonna be able to play basketball forever,” Gordon said. “To have basketball as my only outlet for calming myself and centering myself would be a mistake for after when I’m not playing basketball any longer. So now I look for other ways of catharsis.”
FULL UNEDITED INTERVIEW HERE: