![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/agfornytimes19-5-683x1024.jpg\")
<\/p>\nAaron Gordon kept coming back to the canvas, back to the brush. Day after day, painting what he felt. What seemed stuck inside. What he couldn\u2019t express on the basketball court \u2014 or anywhere else.<\/p>\n
He called the painting \u201cCaged Bird.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about following the present moment,\u201d Gordon says, \u201cto avoid being trapped.\u201d<\/p>\n
When he\u2019s painting, he feels some peace. Normalcy. Unlike much of the outside world, things seem to make more sense here. In a room by himself, painting, he doesn\u2019t have to be perfect. He doesn\u2019t have to perform. There is no one to impress.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s just \u201cme, the canvas, and my thoughts,\u201d says Gordon, a Denver Nuggets forward.<\/p>\n
The practice comforts him. \u201cBeing able to take out that emotion, and create something beautiful with it,\u201d Gordon says. \u201cBefore painting, it\u2019s almost like there\u2019s an angst, and almost like an anxiety \u2026 and then you just flow, your picture starts to come to fruition. It\u2019s this level of fulfillment, almost like a release.\u201d<\/p>\n
He had only taken one art class in high school and had no extensive knowledge of oil painting. But he loved the challenge of something new. He began to think about the deeper intention behind his creations; why he was becoming so meticulous with each stroke. Why he was trying to find beauty in each painting, no matter how far each strayed from his original idea.<\/p>\n
He realized painting was less about the product and more about the experience. About what his soul needed. Which led him to \u201cThe Caged Bird.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt came at a time when I felt like I was stuck spiritually,\u201d Gordon says.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n Aaron Gordon has found peace in paintings and other pursuits. (Photo courtesy of Klutch)<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been almost two years since Gordon\u2019s brother, Drew Gordon, was killed in a car accident at age 33. He was a kind soul, an older brother who Aaron trusted. Confided in. Hoped to emulate. Drew was his inspiration, the one who showed Aaron how to live a fulfilled life. The two were best friends. Drew was a basketball player, too, who played for the Philadelphia 76ers for a brief period, had various stints in the G League, and enjoyed a successful professional career overseas for many top-tier teams. Drew beamed, watching Aaron and the Nuggets win the 2023 championship. Aaron would not have gotten there without the wisdom of his big brother. After his death, Aaron changed his jersey from No. 50 to No. 32, the number Drew wore at the University of New Mexico, to honor him.<\/p>\n
The loss is a grief that Aaron is still wading through. Still processing. It has given him a greater appreciation for the present. \u201cYou can\u2019t really know life without death,\u201d Gordon says.<\/p>\n
He finds purpose, meaning, and even joy in a variety of activities, including reading, playing the piano, meditating, making music, interior designing, painting and working out in a home gym he built.<\/p>\n
And he takes pride in his role as a leader for the Denver Nuggets, now facing the Timberwolves in the first round of the playoffs, intent on chasing a championship despite numerous players battling nagging injuries and missing time on the floor, including superstar Nikola Joki\u0107.<\/p>\n
The Nuggets took Game 1, 116-105, behind 30 points from Jamal Murray. The Timberwolves clawed back in Game 2, as Anthony Edwards took over with 30 points and 10 rebounds in the Timberwolves\u2019 119-114 win.<\/p>\n
Gordon has missed portions of the season due to a right hamstring injury, but he has found his niche as a heartbeat of this team. \u201cAG is definitely the glue,\u201d guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope says. He\u2019s also the team\u2019s calm. The even-keeled veteran. \u201cEverybody looks to AG as far as keeping everybody under control,\u201d Caldwell-Pope says.<\/p>\n
With so much in his personal life outside of his control, he has come to focus on what is in his power: nourishing his relationships with teammates and having a deeper gratitude for his family, and his own life. That, in turn, has helped him process unspeakable loss. \u201cGrief is a tough one because there\u2019s not a ton of stuff that you can do. You can\u2019t go around it,\u201d Gordon says. \u201cYou can\u2019t go over it or under it. That\u2019s just one of those things that you gotta go through.\u201d<\/p>\n
As with his paintings, he has learned to find beauty wherever he can. The glimmers others take for granted. The jokes in the locker room, the wisdom he can impart to the Nuggets\u2019 younger players. The passages in the dozens of books that line his study (he plans on attending law school). The Jean-Michel Basquiat prints on the skateboards that hang along his study\u2019s walls.<\/p>\n
The many outlets he uses to express himself, beyond basketball, have taught him balance.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt puts things into perspective,\u201d Gordon says.<\/p>\n
Before every game, Gordon usually has a message for his teammates: \u201cThrow away everything \u2014 all the luggage, all the emotional baggage,\u201d according to guard Peyton Watson. \u201cThrow that away before we go out there, and let\u2019s just go out and have fun and play the game, respect the game, and play it how it\u2019s supposed to be played.\u201d<\/p>\n
Watson considers Gordon a mentor. \u201cAG is the vocal leader of our team,\u201d Watson says. \u201c \u2026He\u2019s really, really good at living in the moment, and being present.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s been an area of focus for Gordon, who has been inspired by the books that he reads across a range of disciplines, including eastern philosophy and transcendental meditation. \u201cA friend of mine said three weeks of reading solves three months of problems,\u201d Gordon says.<\/p>\n
The classic \u201cTao Te Ching\u201d by Lao Tzu has deeply influenced him. The Tao, or The Dao, meaning \u201cThe Way,\u201d is about how to live in harmony with the natural flow of the universe. And that involves embracing dualities \u2014 one of the biggest influences on Gordon\u2019s mindset \u2014 and how seemingly opposites create harmony.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a firm believer in the Daoism, the Yin and the Yang,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
The translated text reads:<\/p>\n
For being and nonbeing
arise together;
hard and easy
complete each other;
long and short
shape each other;
high and low
depend on each other;
note and voice
make the music together;
before and after
follow each other<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can see the things that are going wrong in your life, and what you think are wrong \u2014 this incorrect thought process \u2014 and then try to find out what the silver lining is. You can always do it. You can always do it,\u201d Gordon says.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2272314850-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Aaron Gordon, shown dunking during Monday night\u2019s playoff game, switched his jersey number from No. 50 to No. 32 in honor of his late brother Drew. (Matthew Stockman \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s people that refuse to do it,\u201d he continues, \u201cbecause they want to attach their personality and their character to loathing, and being miserable, and suffering, but if you\u2019re open-minded and you feel like, OK, I really want to get out of this, you can see the good in everything bad.\u201d<\/p>\n
He has managed to apply that principle to his own life, with his own grief, finding silver linings \u2014 dualities \u2014 in the inexplicable. Joy, he has learned, still accompanies sadness; as does understanding and uncertainty. \u201cLosing my brother,\u201d Gordon says, \u201cand gaining a relationship with my nephews.\u201d<\/p>\n
He feels tremendous joy in being Uncle Aaron, as his nephews call him. He has helped raise them, and their bond has grown deeper over the last two years. He makes sure to roughhouse with them \u2014 like brothers do. \u201cMy brother was a fighter (Yang),\u201d Gordon says, \u201cI am a lover (Yin), and I just make sure to beat my nephews up from time to time to make sure the Yang energy is balanced. For me, Yin is passive. Yang is active.\u201d He\u2019s joking, but it is that playful spirit, that perspective, that has kept all of them going.<\/p>\n
He thinks of another duality, another Yin and Yang: \u201cLosing my brother,\u201d he says, \u201cand understanding what life is really about.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no single answer to the meaning of life because we all have different experiences and live life in unique ways,\u201d he says. \u201cPart of life\u2019s beauty is discovering what it means to you. For me, life is about cherishing the time we spend with the people we love most, pursuing your dreams, and helping others pursue theirs.\u201d<\/p>\n
His teammates can feel that sentiment each day.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone gravitates toward him,\u201d Caldwell-Pope says. \u201cAG was a great example as far as the younger players \u2026 [letting] them know, \u2018Just be patient. Your time is coming. You never know what can happen. Just be ready.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
That mindset has been especially important on a team with two franchise cornerstones in Joki\u0107 and Murray. \u201cAll his teammates respect him,\u201d says Elise Gordon, his older sister. \u201cHe\u2019s always willing to share knowledge without judgment.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Watson first joined the team in 2022, Gordon immediately took to the rookie and welcomed him into his home, and introduced him to his family. Gordon wanted him to know that the older veterans had his back.<\/p>\n
Gordon realized Watson needed confidence. \u201cHe\u2019s always told me to be big with my intentionality and my aggression when I step out there on the court,\u201d says Watson, who remembers feeling just the opposite his first year. \u201cJust being more tentative and being more hesitant to be my full self out there \u2026 I wanted just to do everything perfectly.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd AG told me to just go out there and be myself,\u201d Watson continues. \u201cTry to do things the way you do them, and that\u2019s gonna be what\u2019s most comfortable for you and what\u2019s gonna benefit you most in the long run.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_0636.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Aaron Gordon, center, with his family on draft night in 2014. Aaron was selected fourth overall. His brother Drew is at right.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a message for all his teammates: \u201cMy best wisdom I\u2019ve shared is, \u2018Don\u2019t be afraid to make mistakes; play to play great, not to avoid making mistakes,\u2019\u201d Gordon says. It is something he holds himself to, often reminding himself of a mantra that resonates with him: \u201cI am not above or below no man. Everyone is on an equal playing field.\u201d<\/p>\n
His confidence has allowed his own game to evolve since he came into the league in 2014, spending the first seven seasons of his career with the Orlando Magic before being traded to the Nuggets in 2021. He\u2019s transformed from a high-flying, dynamic forward to a more fundamentally sound X-factor on a championship team, able to create for himself from 3 or dish to others, and rebound and defend at an elite level. With more years behind him than ahead of him in the league, perhaps his biggest contribution these days is his voice. \u201cAcquiring knowledge to pass down to the next generation is what I\u2019m doing this for,\u201d Gordon says.<\/p>\n
Part of his leadership, though, has been allowing his teammates to lead; to be there for him, too. Many flew to Oregon to be there for him for Drew\u2019s funeral. \u201cDrew was such a great dude,\u201d Watson says, \u201cDrew would be so supportive and show up to every game, show up to every event that AG was a part of \u2026 It was just something so abrupt that broke my heart \u2026 I could only imagine how devastated AG was, and that was our entire team trying to just brainstorm and think of ways that we could try to continue to lift his spirits and just be there for him as brothers.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-457800384-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Drew Gordon, Aaron\u2019s older brother by five years, played nine games for the 76ers in the 2014-15 season. He died in May 2024. (Alex Goodlett \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Caldwell-Pope admires how Gordon carried so much inside but didn\u2019t let it affect his play on the floor. He was still going to show up, full effort, every possession, even helping the team to a second-place finish in the West before falling in the Western Conference semifinals in seven games in 2023-24. \u201cHe didn\u2019t bring his grief to the locker room,\u201d Caldwell-Pope says. \u201cWhen he came to work, it was all about work. And when he left, you knew it was all about his family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gordon began to come to terms with what had happened. \u201cAccept a reality for what it is,\u201d Gordon says. He turned to his books, particularly on the subjects he\u2019s passionate about, including metaphysics and astrophysics. These disciplines contemplate existence beyond the world we commonly know.<\/p>\n
\u201cBelieving that the spirit never really leaves. Energy is neither created nor destroyed,\u201d he says. \u201cThe energy, after losing somebody, the energy is still with you, it\u2019s still carried with you, it\u2019s still around, it\u2019s still guiding you. They\u2019re still here.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though you can\u2019t see him or touch him,\u201d Gordon says, \u201cyou can still feel him.\u201d<\/p>\n
While his teammates praise his ability to stay in the moment \u2014 to be the X-factor for this team as it moves forward in the playoffs \u2014 Gordon sees beyond this moment, too. He isn\u2019t likely to be someone who struggles to retire, to define himself without the game. He has always done so \u2014 in his own way. His canvas, his books, remind him that his purpose has always been bigger than basketball.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it\u2019s done,\u201d Gordon says, \u201cit\u2019s done. And I\u2019ll let it go.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c[These other mediums] remind me not to take basketball so seriously,\u201d Gordon says. \u201cBasketball is just another medium for me to express myself. \u2026 [but it] just reminds me that there are other ways to express yourself in this world.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of those ways is through gratitude. He has found that once you start looking for good \u2014 you start to notice it more. Sometimes you find it everywhere. \u201cTurns out,\u201d Gordon says, \u201cyou literally never have to repeat one thing. There\u2019s an infinite number of things to be grateful for.\u201d<\/p>\n
He is grateful for his meditation practice, too, and the ability to find his calm. For himself, and for this team. He meditates four or five times a week, for about five minutes each. He isn\u2019t concerned with the time, or having a set schedule. \u201cMeditation is about the breath and the presence of body and mind,\u201d he says. \u201cIf it takes an hour, it takes an hour; if it takes five minutes, it takes five minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n
He has launched \u201cMental Game,\u201d a guided meditation series that gives people access to the same mindfulness tools he uses. Kids, he says, can benefit from the practice, too. When he meditates with them, he guides them through a visualization practice, telling them to imagine lying in a field and feeling the grass underneath; or lying under a lemon tree, picking a lemon, and taking a bite. \u201cMost kids say they can taste the lemon,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt helps kids and others understand how powerful the mind can be,\u201d he says. \u201cLife is full of ups and downs, and meditation helps regulate emotions and create space to be calm.\u201d<\/p>\n
He remembers one of his mantras these days: \u201cI have nothing and everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is a silver lining, this ability to recognize his power and his limitations; his strength and his weakness. And so he paints.<\/p>\n
Me, the canvas and my thoughts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aaron Gordon kept coming back to the canvas, back to the brush. Day after day, painting what he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":623522,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,1662,5665,590,12985,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-623521","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-denver-nuggets","11":"tag-minnesota-timberwolves","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-orlando-magic","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=623521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/623522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}