Aaron Gordon is ramping up to return from his hamstring injury, but hasn’t been cleared to play by the Nuggets yet as they prepare for a back-to-back Thursday and Friday against the Lakers and Knicks. Gordon and Peyton Watson joined their teammates for a few drills on Wednesday during a light prac tice with no contact, Nuggets coach David Adelman said. Gordon was able to do more than Watson, also getting in a full workout with assistant coaches afterward that involved more physicality. The Athletic’s Sam Amick reported that Gordon is targeting a return as soon as Friday against New York, as his official status remains in limbo. League sources have told The Denver Post that Gordon is eager to play and help the Nuggets out of a rut, but the team has been proceeding with extra caution. The 30-year-old power forward’s right hamstring strain has been a recurring problem throughout the season. He’s expected to miss his 40th game on Thursday. “It’s just a check-the-box kind of thing. The longer you can wait, the better with a soft tissue injury,” Adelman said, though he had no specific update on which game Gordon will be back. “The more stress you can put on it daily to find his comfort level and our comfort level allows us to have more confidence that he can come back. And play in games. This is not like a warm-up. He has to play full-speed as we’re trying to win as many games as we can, get to the end here. So it’s a high-stress thing on his body.” Gordon suffered the initial injury on Nov. 21 in Houston, limping to the locker room early in the first quarter. He returned Jan. 4 on a minutes restriction and gradually increased his playing time for the next two weeks. His minutes peaked at 33 in a win over the Wizards on Jan. 22. After that game, he said he was feeling “better than I’ve felt in a long time.” The Nuggets cleared him to play a back-to-back the next night in Milwaukee, and he re-aggravated the injury after logging 16 minutes in the first half. Since then, Gordon has missed 16 consecutive games. Adelman said that when he returns, his availability for back-to-backs will be “situational, depending on the stress level of the game he plays.” After the back-to-back with Los Angeles and New York, the Nuggets (38-24) get the weekend off, going into a Monday rematch at Oklahoma City. “We can’t wait to have a full team. I don’t know how many minutes we’ve all played together or been out on the floor together,” Bruce Brown said after practice. “Hopefully they come back soon, because we need their help for sure. … Who was the first one? CB (Christian Braun) was the first one in LA? Can’t wait to get everybody healthy.” Denver’s defensive rating this season is 8.2 points per 100 possessions better with Gordon on the court than off it. Adelman has also cited the lack of a short-corner presence from Gordon as a symptom of Denver’s clutch-time struggles. Ordinarily, Gordon keeps defenses honest by playing in the dunker spot behind Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray’s two-man game, providing a lob threat for Jokic if opponents bring an extra body to him on the roll. The team is 6-8 since Jokic returned from a knee injury and is only half a game ahead of the Lakers for fifth place in the West going into Thursday’s game. “Obviously, selfishly as a coach, I’d love to play him 38 minutes every game,” Adelman said. “But we have to do what’s right for him to get us to the finish line within reason of also winning games.” Isaiah Joe #11 of the Oklahoma City Thunder gets in between Luguentz Dort #5 of the Oklahoma City Thunder and Nikola Jokic #15 of the Denver Nuggets during the second half at Paycom Center on Friday night in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (Photo by Joshua Gateley/Getty Images) Lu Dort: Trip on Jokic was ‘over the limit’ The Nuggets were not in a very forgiving mood on Wednesday. Making his first public comments since his ejection for tripping Nikola Jokic last Friday, Thunder wing Lu Dort acknowledged that he “went over the limit.” “It was a physical game throughout the whole game,” Dort told The Athletic’s Joel Lorenzi during a Thunder road trip in Chicago. “Obviously, that was unnecessary contact that I shouldn’t have done. I got the worst of it by getting thrown out the game. But yeah, it was a high-level game. I’m a competitor, so I compete.” The Nuggets haven’t been shy about voicing their displeasure with both Dort and Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault for what they believed was a dismissive postgame quote about the incident. Adelman called the trip a “cheap shot” and “malicious” two days after the game. Jokic kept his assessment of the situation brief but made his feelings clear, calling it an “unnecessary move” by Dort and a “necessary reaction by me.” Related Articles Nuggets unmoved by Lu Dort’s comments on tripping Nikola Jokic: A ‘cheap shot’ How Nikola Jokic vs. Lu Dort spices up Nuggets-Thunder rivalry, with Tim MacMahon | Podcast Nuggets sign former Colorado State wing David Roddy to 2-way, waive Tamar Bates Jamal Murray’s scoring, Nikola Jokic’s block, David Adelman’s challenge save desperate Nuggets in Utah Nuggets sign Tyus Jones for rest of season, filling 15th roster spot with ball-handler So did Dort’s admission finally de-escalate the tension between Oklahoma City and Denver ahead of next Monday’s rematch? Adelman, Bruce Brown and Jonas Valanciunas spoke to reporters after practice on Wednesday. All three were asked if the comments meant anything to them. All three replied “no,” with no further comment. Tyus Jones gets in the gym Denver’s ball-handling reinforcements have arrived. Jones was in the gym Wednesday, walking through actions with a group of assistant coaches after the Nuggets finished up practice. The signing of Jones hadn’t been made official yet, but he’ll be with the team Thursday when the Lakers visit Ball Arena. Want more Nuggets news? Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis. ...read more read less