DeAndre Jordan signed with the Denver Nuggets this offseason as a veteran presence for a relatively young locker room. Jordan isn’t much of a factor on the court anymore, as we clearly saw last season with both the Lakers and the Sixers, but he is a great guy to have in the locker room, which makes him an attractive option for teams around the league.
The Nuggets signed him very early on in the offseason, which shows just keen they were on having him on their team. Jordan will be backing up superstar Nikola Jokic this upcoming season, but he is getting to start over the Serbian in the preseason.
DeAndre Jordan Was Shocked After The Nuggets Announcer Called Him Deandre Ayton During Introductions
Jordan had started their second preseason game against the Bulls and he got the nod for the third one against the Suns as well. During introductions, however, the Nuggets announcer mistakingly called him Deandre Ayton instead, which shocked the veteran big man who had a priceless reaction to it.
DeAndre Jordan's reaction after the Nuggets announcer introduced him as Deandre Ayton 🤣 https://t.co/yZ45At5kyJ
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) October 11, 2022
The Nuggets sure would love to have Ayton as their backup center to Jokic, but they’ll have to settle for Jordan. Both men did put up decent numbers in the game, as Ayton finished with 19 points to go with 11 rebounds while Jordan had 7 points to go with 10 rebounds. The Nuggets also ended up getting the win, which was their first in three tries in this preseason.
Nuggets fans have high expectations for this upcoming season, as Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. are finally healthy again. Murray missed the whole of last season as he recovered from an ACL tear while Porter only featured in 9 games. Despite their absence, Jokic somehow led the team to the playoffs, and in the process, won a second consecutive MVP award.
He is now going for 3 in a row, something that hasn’t been done since the 1980s when Larry Bird did it, but Zach Lowe doesn’t believe he will be able to do it, due to voter fatigue. We doubt Jokic would care too much about that, as his goal is to be the Tim Duncan of the Nuggets by helping them win championships. The Western Conference is stacked, as always, so it will be a difficult task, but the last time the Nuggets were healthy, they made it to the Conference Finals, so there is some cause for optimism that perhaps they can go far once again.
