It’s as if guarding the NBA’s best perimeter players isn’t challenging enough for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.

After chasing Stephen Curry around on Christmas, Caldwell-Pope spent the rest of the day opening gifts with his family.

“The biggest (present) was my putting green. I’m working on my golf game,” Caldwell-Pope said after Wednesday’s practice.

“That’s all I’ve been doing at home since it’s been snowing.”

Nuggets center DeAndre Jordan introduced Caldwell-Pope to golf. Denver’s shut-down defender is still getting used to the sticks.

“I’m still learning,” Caldwell-Pope said of his new hobby. “I’m a guy that’s always chipping the balls and got to go find them.”

The progress around the greens will have to be delayed a couple of days. The Nuggets host the Grizzlies on Thursday and the Thunder on Friday. For Caldwell-Pope, that likely means matchups with Ja Morant and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, two of basketball’s young stars, on consecutive nights.

To prepare, Caldwell-Pope does the typical film study and gets familiar with the opponent’s personnel

“I prepare myself at shootaround,” Caldwell-Pope said. “One of our coaches is pretending to be them guys. I try to amp up the pressure. I try to emulate some of the things I would do in the game.”

That system has worked so far. The veteran guard has been the primary defender on Curry and held Golden State’s star to 13 makes on 38 shots in two games so far this season, both Denver wins. Earlier in the season, Caldwell-Pope led the charge as the Nuggets held Gilgeous-Alexander to his lowest-scoring game of the season, a seven-point performance where he made just 2 of 16 shots in a Nuggets win.

Those types of performances have led teammates and coaches to campaign for Caldwell-Pope’s inclusion as an All-Defense selection at season’s end, often referring to him as “First team.”

“It means a lot. They believe in me. They have faith in me on that end, and they know what I can do. I try to show it every night regardless of how my shooting is going. I know what I’m best at, and that’s on the defensive end, causing havoc, getting steals, getting deflections and then helping my teammates out, if they need it as well,” Caldwell-Pope said.

“For me, being more focused on that end gets everything else going for me.”

That’s a message he’s passed down to younger players. Caldwell-Pope has challenged Peyton Watson, a second-year player, to become that caliber of a defender.

“Coming into every game with the same mindset,” Watson answered when asked what he’s learned from the veteran. “There’s 82 games, but one thing that he tells me is each game is a new opportunity. This league has the best players in the world, and you can always work on something.”

Gilgeous-Alexander bounced back with a 25-point game in a win in Denver earlier this month, but he needed 20 shots to get there and still came up short of his 31-point average. Round three is Friday at Ball Arena.

“When that jump ball goes up, we know we’re going to ask him to do what he does every night – go out there and guard their best player to the best of his ability,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “You know what you get from KCP.”

That’s true on the basketball court. The same can’t be said for his developing golf game, but he did say there’s one similarity between his profession and his new hobby.

“I feel like it’s all the same – great touch,” Caldwell-Pope said. “You got to have great touch. I ain’t got that right now as far as golf.”