DENVER — Within its special season, veering hard toward a No. 1 seed in the West and, potentially, the top overall seed in NBA, there’s an element of sacrifice that’s permeated Denver’s roster.
Speaking at shootaround on Wednesday morning ahead of their matchup against Chicago, veteran Aaron Gordon described the selflessness that’s become a defining trait of the Nuggets.
“I’m not here to win a championship for myself,” Gordon said. “I’m here to win a championship for Joker (Nikola Jokic). Joker’s here to win a championship for Jamal (Murray) and Michael Malone and Michael Porter. KCP, we’re looking to get him another one. I’m not doing this for myself. I’m doing it for the guys around me.”
Though Gordon was the only player who spoke to the media Wednesday morning, that ethos has been apparent around the team for weeks. Beginning with Jokic, the two-time reigning MVP, no one seems to care who gets the credit, least of all the face of the franchise.
It’s why Gordon’s been such a seamless fit with this roster.
“It’s not often that you get a professional sports team where everybody’s pulling and pushing in the same direction,” he said.
Gordon, who returned four games ago from a painful rib contusion, came back following Denver’s recent blowout loss to the Grizzlies. He told The Post he couldn’t stand watching his teammates lose like that from afar. Throughout those four games, all Denver wins, Gordon said he’s found his rhythm and pace once again.
“That was the thing I was struggling with when I first got back,” he said.
The thing that never left, though, was his chemistry with Jokic. Seemingly on a nightly basis, it’s the reigning MVP serving up lobs for Gordon to hammer.
“I’m starting to understand where he needs me to be to bail him out sometimes when he gets double-teamed and triple-teamed,” Gordon said.
When the conversation veered toward the MVP race, Gordon disclosed he wasn’t on social media and hadn’t seen the volume of the current discussion around Jokic. In Gordon’s opinion, none of that even mattered.
Jokic, in Gordon’s mind, is barreling toward a three-peat.
“I don’t even think it’s really that close,” Gordon said.
