Aaron Gordon rejoined the Nuggets for practice Sunday after missing two games due to injuries from a dog bite on Christmas. Gordon told The Denver Post he feels ready to play Monday when the Nuggets host the Hornets.
A league source said it’ll be Gordon’s call as to whether he plays against Charlotte, and that the team feels comfortable allowing him to play if he’s ready.
The dog that bit Gordon was his Rottweiler, which he adopted about four years ago when the dog was six weeks old, Gordon said. Due to the travel demands of the NBA schedule, he doesn’t get to spend much time around his pet during the season, so he has family looking after it for him. Gordon is considering possible training alternatives.
“I love dogs. I grew up with dogs my whole life,” Gordon said. “But because we’re on the road so much, my dad’s taking care of him, so I can’t really train him how I need him to be. … But I feel good. Everything is fine.”
Sporting 21 stitches caused by the incident, mostly bandaged across his right shooting hand, Gordon was in good spirits after his return to practice. He thanked everyone who wished him well during his absence from the team and added that he saw memes on social media relating to the dog bite, which he thought were funny. Gordon was also scarred near his lip.
“I’ve played with stitches in my hand before, so that’s not new to me,” he said.
He knew he was ready to return to basketball activities after the pain in his hand felt manageable.
“I don’t really care about the stitches on my face,” he said. “We’re not running a pageant here.”
“I’ll talk to him in a little bit here just to see how it felt at practice today, catching the ball, shooting the ball,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “It’s on his right hand. So it’ll be a discussion with him, and how comfortable he is going out there, playing. But he looked good today. I think for him it was just great to be back in the gym. And you always hear that from guys, when they’re not with the team, what they miss most is being around the locker room and the team and the comradery that we all have. But we’ll see how he’s feeling tomorrow with the hand.”
As for what happened: Gordon was at home when he was bit. It was after Denver’s Christmas Day win over the Warriors. Gordon went to the hospital that night to get his injuries stitched up. The way he explained it Sunday, the bite was an unfortunate accident that was his own fault more than anything.
“I guess it’s a little bit embarrassing, but not too embarrassing to where I can’t talk about it,” he said. “I don’t drink a lot during the season. I probably had a little bit too much eggnog. I was kind of roughhousing with my dog, and I think my dog got a little excited and just basically chomped down. Gave me a bite. And I was basically wrestling him off of me, and then he bit my hand.
“For lack of better words, I was (messing) around with my dog, and when you (mess) around, you find out.”
