Gordon has missed Newcastle's last four games, including two due to a hip injury, as speculation mounts that the Bundesliga champions are in advanced negotiations to sign him at the end of the season.
Asked on Friday if he had left out Gordon because he was planning for the future, Howe said: "When you get to this stage of the season, part of what we will be doing we'll be looking to next year, naturally, so yes.
"Anthony's just come back from injury. I think the team has played well in his absence and with a partial view to the future, yes."
Howe said talks over Gordon's potential departure could be underway, but he insisted he was not part of the negotiations.
"No, nothing, no updates from me. These are discussions that potentially might be happening, but not with me," he said.
Howe has to decide whether to involve Gordon in the Premier League clash with relegation-threatened West Ham at St James' Park on Sunday.
Brazil international Joelinton, who lined up in Gordon's left-sided attacking berth at Nottingham Forest last weekend, is nursing a thigh problem.
"If it's the right thing for the team - and I put the team and the club above any individual - then I would play him, of course," Howe said on the possibility of Gordon featuring this weekend.