30 NBA Players in 30 Days: Jamal Murray
Day 20 of our NBA season countdown brings us to the Denver Nuggets to talk about our favorite player from the 2020 bubble, Jamal Murray. The Kentucky point guard missed the entirety of last season due to a torn ACL from April 2021. He played in his first game since his injury on an NBA court a couple days ago in the Nuggets’ first preseason game for the 2023 season. He had 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting in 15 minutes. Seeing him on the court and just moving with some comfortability is a great sign for the Nuggets, who have high aspirations this season. Their other young centerpiece Michael Porter Jr. also missed almost the entire season when he dealt with an issue in a nerve in his back early in the season. Now with both back on the court to join the back-to-back MVP Nikola Jokić, The Nuggets look primed to be a powerhouse in the West to compete with the likes of the Warriors and the top teams in the conference. As NBA fans, we should not expect Murray to be at the same level he was pre-injury right away. It takes time and many games for a player with a significant injury like tearing an ACL to feel comfortable and free. Klay Thompson has not played pick-up hoops or scrimmaged this entire summer, yet he played a ton of minutes in the playoffs during the Warriors championship run this past year. Head coach Mike Malone has already said Murray will be on a minutes restriction in the 20’s to start the season, and I’m sure he will also be sitting back-to-backs. The goal for him and the Nuggets is to get him rolling at or near an All-Star level by the time the playoffs start.
What are realistic expectations for Murray for this season? Since he will be starting the season on a minutes restriction, and will probably play about 60–65 games max, what is fair or unfair to expect out of him on the court? In the 2021 season, he started out slow but then he started to really pick it up post All-Star break and that is when he tore his ACL. Pre-injury he posted 21.2 PPG, 4.8 APG, 4 RPG, on 47.7 FG%, and 40.8 FG3%. Is it possible to get 85–90% of that production? Anything close to that level of play will certainly be better than whatever the Nuggets trotted out on the court last year. They have more depth and talent surrounding Jokić, but Murray is the clear X-factor for this team. It’s not that I do not believe Murray has the talent to be one of the best guards in the league. He clearly does, but how good is he going to be for this current season? Is he good enough to be an All-Star? His best moments in his career so far have been in very unique circumstances, where we saw TJ Warren score 50 points. I agree that the bubble had the best performances we have seen in a long time, but that situation was so different from what we have seen on the biggest stages the last two seasons in the playoffs. Murray and Jokić playing at their best is undoubtedly one of the best duos in the entire league, but it might take the season after this year to really see how far they can take the Nuggets. Klay Thompson came back from two devastating lower leg injuries, but he had really bad nights in every playoff series during the Warriors’ run. It’s a good thing he had Andrew Wiggins and Jordan Poole to cover for his poor offensive nights. In Murray’s case, he has to be the second best player on the team for the Nuggets to be where they want. And as that second best player, he has to perform each and every night. Is that too much to ask for a guy coming off an ACL tear? We have amazing medical technology and practices in today’s world of sports medicine, but the only comparison we have of Murray playing at an elite level consistently is in the Orlando bubble two years ago. Yet, he is so talented that I would not be surprised if he is able to get comfortable quickly and be playing really well by the turn of the new calendar year.
The Nuggets have to think about their core’s timeline in order to figure out how to handle Murray’s season. He’s going to definitely push to try and play more often than not because that’s just how athletes are. Him and Jokić are still barely beginning to start their primes, so there is no rush. Plus, both of them and Porter Jr. are all locked into contracts for the foreseeable future. I would not be surprised if the Nuggets choose to go lightly and see where they are compared to the rest of the West if maybe Murray does not end up getting back to his pre-injury play as fast as they anticipated. He is an exceptional talent, and has an amazing basketball connection with Jokić, so the Nuggets should not feel rushed to try and push in all their chips this season. It’s going to be great seeing the both of them share the court again and running their 2-man game on offense. The only thing the Nuggets have to hope for out of Murray is a fully healthy season.
