Jamal Murray has experienced both the highs and lows of the NBA. The man who, alongside Nikola Jokic, delivered the first-ever championship in Denver Nuggets history, looked like one of the best players in the world that season.
The fact that he managed to return to his old level and even surpass it, after tearing his ACL is truly remarkable. However, old problems soon resurfaced, as he continued to struggle with consistency and nagging injuries that kept throwing him out of rhythm.
Still, Vic Lombardi, a commentator for “Altitude TV” and a well-connected Denver insider, is optimistic about the Canadian guard heading into the new season.
“I’ve watched Jamal Murray closely in this preseason and I can say, without a shadow of a doubt, he looks sooo much more athletic, energetic and engaged,” Lombardi posted on his X account.
“Playoff Murray” is a different beast
Although Murray is only 28 and should be entering the prime of his career, everything he’s gone through has created the impression that we’re talking about a seasoned veteran entering the twilight of his playing days.
The truth is that after his knee injury, he lost some of his athleticism and speed, but he has already shown that he’s capable of playing at an MVP level once the playoffs begin. At the end of the day, we’re talking about a player who ranks in the top three all-time for the biggest scoring increase from the regular season to the playoffs – an incredible 5.7 increase in points.
Murray hadn’t yet reached the All-Star heights
And that’s not a small sample size, as Jamal has already played 79 postseason games, consistently proving he’s simply a different beast when it’s money time. Still, the fact remains that he’s never been selected to an All-Star game. His former teammate, Vlatko Cancar, was honest about that.
“Murray, who is a top player, just isn’t consistent enough to be an All-Star,”said Cancar. “We were finishing first before the All-Star break, and there’s always just one of us on the team, never two or three. One year [Aaron] Gordon barely missed out and it went to Jaren Jackson Jr. instead,” Cancar concluded.
Jamal is playing efficient basketball after the injury
Although there was plenty of criticism aimed at the 6-foot-4 guard last season, he still recorded career highs with 21.4 points and 1.4 steals per game. Those numbers clearly show he had one of the best regular seasons of his career, but the general impression was that he often threw the team’s rhythm off balance.
And indeed, when we look at his numbers after the injury and take into account that Jokic is the team’s primary ball handler, it becomes clear that over the last three seasons, Murray has been shooting over 40 percent from beyond the arc while consistently averaging more than 20 points and six assists per game. Those are impressive stats, especially considering he isn’t the primary option for the Nuggets.
If Lombardi’s words prove true and Murray finally manages to complete a full, injury-free season with improved consistency and if he looks physically like he did in some of his playoff runs, then Jokic will finally get the support he needs during the regular season, something that would be extremely valuable for head coach David Adelman.