As the Denver Nuggets fought for their playoff lives, a key piece had to sit and watch from the bench in street clothes.

The sight of Aaron Gordon looking on from the sideline has become more common lately.

After playing in 75 games in his first full season with the team in 2021-22, Gordon is yet to reach that mark since, getting close two seasons ago when he played 73 games. He played a career-low 36 games this regular season and his injuries are now bleeding over into the playoffs.

Game 5 against the Timberwolves, a 125-113 Denver win that kept alive their season, was his second missed game in the series, and the first time he’s missed any playoff games since coming to Denver.

Denver coach David Adelman said pregame Gordon “obviously wasn’t himself” due to the left calf tightness that caused him to play limited minutes in the Game 4 loss in Minnesota.

“I’ve known Aaron for a really long time, all the way back to Orlando,” Adelman said. “This has been a crushing moment for him to have this happen two years in a row.”

Is it so much of a problem that the Nuggets must wonder how Gordon factors into the team’s long-term plans? That’s a question for the offseason.

Here’s a breakdown of how Gordon’s fared in the postseason throughout his Nuggets tenure and what is ahead for the 30-year-old.

Recent playoff history

Gordon’s most complete playoff run came during the 2023 championship season. He showed off his defensive versatility in all four rounds, going from guarding Karl-Anthony Towns to Kevin Durant to LeBron James to Jimmy Butler throughout Denver’s 16-4 romp to a title.

Last year’s playoffs, though, provided Gordon’s biggest moments. He had a tip-in dunk at the buzzer to beat the Clippers in Game 4 of a first-round series before stunning the Oklahoma City crowd with a game-winning 3-pointer in Game 1 against the Thunder.

Gordon averaged a career-best 16.2 points and 7.6 rebounds while shooting just under 38% from 3-point range across 14 games.

In this Timberwolves series

Adelman mentioned prior to Game 5 how much Gordon’s absence changes the calculus for the Nuggets against the Wolves, in particular.

While Anthony Edwards and Donte DiVincenzo, Minnesota’s starting backcourt, are out, the front line of Jaden McDaniels, Julius Randle and Rudy Gobert are all healthy and playing well. Gordon defends all three at times and is Denver’s only available forward with good size. Peyton Watson remains out.

He’s been clearly diminished, but Gordon through three games has put up the worst playoff numbers since his first postseason with the Nuggets, averaging just over 11 points and five rebounds per game, while shooting 40% from the field and 21.4% from 3.

The Nuggets aren’t ruling out a potential return later in this series, now that they have forced a Game 6, which features an extra off day. Maybe that allows Gordon to come back and provide a spark to keep the season alive once again.

Gordon’s contract

Gordon’s three-year contract extension begins next season, when he’s set to make nearly $32 million with his salary getting as high as $37 million in the 2028-29 season, the final year of that deal.

It’s an increase from the $22.8 million he made this season. The pay bump complicates any moves the Nuggets may want to make to tweak the roster this summer.

The future

Gordon’s contract and recent soft-tissue injury make him a difficult player to trade, even if, in a vacuum, he’s the type of player every contender in the NBA is always looking to acquire.

The Nuggets also have the looming free agency for Watson. Cam Johnson and his $23 million expiring contract is the likely casualty if Denver is intent on bringing back Watson at a number likely similar to, if not higher than, Christian Braun’s new deal that will pay him an average of $25 million per season over the next five seasons.

Perhaps there’s a world where the Nuggets try to get younger both in the starting lineup and on the bench by moving off Gordon’s deal to bring back Watson and supplement the rotation.