One of the biggest questions that came to mind for Denver Nuggets fans following what turned out to be an action-packed trade deadline day for them was what type of impact the Aaron Gordon deal would have on the highly-touted Michael Porter Jr.
Nuggets head coach Michael Malone was asked this very same question prior to Friday's tilt against the New Orleans Pelicans, and as it appears, Gordon's arrival should not have any negative impact on Porter's role for Denver:
Malone said he sees Aaron Gordon as a 3/4 who could fit seamlessly along with MPJ.
“He’s a very important acquisition for us.”
— Mike Singer (@msinger) March 26, 2021
While Malone did not go into detail as to how he intends to use Gordon alongside Porter, it does seem like the former is more of a complementary piece as opposed to competition for minutes. Then again, it would not be surprising if Porter takes a slight hit in terms of his playing time now that Gordon is in the mix. Porter is averaging 29.4 minutes per game right now and even if he concedes five or so minutes per game to Gordon, it's going to be good for everyone in terms of looking at the big picture.
As it is, it appears that it's going to be Paul Millsap who's going to be the odd man out. Millsap will still play a significant role for the Nuggets moving forward, but Gordon will likely take over his starting gig.
Gordon has not been cleared for Friday's contest against the Pelicans so we will need to wait a bit longer before we actually see how coach Malone intends to tweak his rotations.
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