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Denver Nuggets forward Peyton Watson is expected to return Sunday against the Portland Trail Blazers after missing more than six weeks due to a hamstring strain, sources told ESPN's Shams Charania on Saturday. Watson's return would mark the first time the Nuggets have had their full roster available since early in the season. Several players, including three-time MVP Nikola Jokic, Aaron Gordon, Cameron Johnson and Christian Braun, have all missed extended time this year.
Katy Winge: Aaron Gordon is listed as OUT for tonight’s game against Memphis. Right hamstring injury management.
Aaron Gordon: “You know, I’ve always been a reader, even as a kid. I liked going to the library, book fairs, and picking out books, and I liked being able to read above my grade level. Lemony Snicket books were really good as a kid, and Ender’s Game, too, along with the Harry Potter books. Then it kind of grew on me a little bit. I started to get into psychology and philosophy. And as my career has progressed, I’ve understood that, at the end of the day, I’m not going to be able to play basketball for the rest of my life. So I wanted to cultivate my mind and my knowledge, and make up for lost time from not going to college.”
Bennett Durando: Aaron Gordon is out tonight in San Antonio. Victor Wembanyama is out for the Spurs. The Nuggets have still not seen him this season.
The Nuggets have battled injuries all season long, but they remained competitive as one of the top teams in the league, led by three-time MVP Nikola Jokic. "I'm going to say my prediction is that if everyone gets healthy on the Nuggets — Peyton Watson broke out this year and Aaron Gordon is a difference maker — once they get healthy for the playoffs, it's going to be really, really hard to beat them in seven games," Porter Jr. claimed. "I'm going to go with Denver."
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Gordon was blunt about his performance but upbeat about the state of his right hamstring — it might as well be the state of the union for the Nuggets — while reflecting on a 1-for-7 shooting night Friday. It was supposed to the power forward’s triumphant return after missing 17 consecutive games with a reaggravated hamstring strain. Instead, it was Denver’s worst home loss in franchise history, a 142-103 smackdown by the Knicks at Ball Arena. Consider Gordon unfazed. “I’ve gotta stay on top of it. But I play without worry,” he said when asked about the risk of re-injury. “When you’re worried about an injury out there, that’s usually when it happens. So I feel great. My body feels good. It’s just the timing and the pace of the game that needs to come back to me now, but I feel good.”
“I think (we missed him) more on the defensive side,” Nikola Jokic said, alluding also to the injured Peyton Watson. “They’re really good on offense, and they give us different variation and different weapons on offense. But I think their length and their ability to guard, we kind of miss more. Definitely, it’s gonna help us.” The numbers speak for themselves. The Nuggets are 17-6 with Gordon on the court and 22-18 with him on the sideline. Their offensive rating is 3.9 points per 100 possessions better with Gordon than without him. Their defensive rating is 8.2 points better.
Vinny Benedetto: Aaron Gordon is back.
Aaron Gordon is back.
— Vinny Benedetto (@vbenedetto.bsky.social) 2026-03-07T02:14:03.470Z
Bennett Durando: Aaron Gordon officially cleared to play vs. Knicks tonight. Cam Johnson and Spencer Jones are also in. It’s the first time since Nov. 12 that Denver’s opening day starting lineup will play together.
Per a league source close to Aaron Gordon, the veteran forward — who re-aggravated his right hamstring injury on Jan. 23 — is targeting a return in Friday’s home game against the New York Knicks. It remains to be seen if he’ll get the necessary clearance from the Nuggets, who are being understandably cautious here in light of the setback he suffered six weeks ago. Gordon missed 19 games earlier this season with the hamstring injury, then pulled up lame on a routine rebound against the Milwaukee Bucks in his 10th game back and has been sidelined ever since. As such, there is clearly a high level of concern and care being exercised about his return. With the postseason still more than a month away, and the Nuggets (38-24; fifth in the Western Conference) having lost 11 of their last 20 games while also enduring the extended absence of another pivotal player in Peyton Watson (hamstring), the stakes of this choice are incredibly high.
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KJ Simpson played his first meaningful minutes since joining the team on a two-way contract last week. His fast-break flush late in the third quarter capped an 11-0 Nuggets run and sent them to the fourth with a 77-67 lead, the first double-digit margin of the night. That run carried over with a pair of buckets from backup center Jonas Valanciunas. When Jokic was out of the game, Adelman continued to ride a bench unit with Johnson staggering — not that he had a surplus of other options with Murray, Aaron Gordon and Peyton Watson all out. “KJ didn’t show up here thinking he was going to play,” Adelman said. “He warmed up, it seemed like, four hours before the game. That’s his warm-up time. So he’s been sitting around here not doing anything. And then Jamal gets sick. He’s out. I felt like it was appropriate to let him play in the first half out of fairness, so gave him a few minutes there. And I personally thought he looked comfortable.”
Bennett Durando: Aaron Gordon “did basically everything but the contact stuff” in practice today. “He got up and down with script. We did some situational defensive drills. He was a part of that. But it’s just gonna be a day-by-day thing. … Aaron’s been great. He’s understood the process.”
Brendan Vogt: Spencer Jones (concussion protocol) is questionable for tomorrow's game against the Grizzlies. Nikola Jokić (L ankle sprain), Jamal Murray (L hip inflammation), and Christian Braun (L ankle sprain) are all probable. Aaron Gordon and Peyton Watson still OUT w/ hamstring strains.