When Aaron Gordon fits up for Denver Nuggets subsequent season, he’ll be doing so with a brand new jersey quantity. The NBA champion is altering his jersey quantity from No. 50 to no. 32, to honor his brother, Drew Gordon who died in a automobile accident Might. 

Drew wore No. 32 when he performed faculty basketball on the College of New Mexico, the place he had two standout seasons averaging 13.4 factors and 10.8 rebounds as a junior and senior. He earned all Mountain West Convention honors in each seasons, and was all Mountain West Convention match MVP in his senior 12 months.

After graduating from New Mexico, Gordon performed professionally abroad in Serbia for Euroleague powerhouse Partizan Belgrade, the place he additionally wore the No. 32 jersey. Whereas most of his profession was spent abroad, he did play for the Philadelphia 76ers for 9 video games through the 2014-15 NBA season previous to being waived. Though Drew did not discover a lot success within the NBA, he had a prolonged and profitable profession internationally, the place he was an Italian Cup winner in 2014 with Dinamo Sassari, was named an All-Star in France in 2016, in addition to an All-Star nod in 2018 whereas taking part in in Russia. He formally introduced his retirement from skilled basketball in July 2023.

Drew died in a automobile accident on Might 30 on the age of 33, when his automobile collided with one other automobile in Clackamas County, Oregon. On June sixth, Aaron Gordon shared on Instagram a sequence of photographs of his new chest tattoo with the initials “DG” for his older brother, whereas sharing the caption, “Massive bruh lives by way of me.”

This would be the third quantity change in Gordon’s skilled profession, after carrying No. 00 throughout his seven seasons with the Orlando Magic. He then switched to No. 50 after each No. 00 and No. 0 have been taken on the time he joined the workforce.