Denver Nuggets: Without Jamal Murray, team will look to Will Barton and Austin Rivers

The Denver Nuggets are preparing to weather another storm as the 2021 season approaches. The Nuggets will embark on a hopeful journey to an NBA championship without the services of their best scorer and one of their biggest leaders in Jamal Murray while he recovers from a torn ACL suffered against the Golden State Warriors on April 12th last season.

This is where 30-year-old Will Barton and 29-year-old Austin Rivers will become pivotal in keeping the Nuggets afloat while Murray mends. Will Barton returns to Denver on a two-year $32 million deal that makes him the fourth-highest paid player on the team for 2021. The Nuggets made Rivers’ one-year deal official on Tuesday and will look to him early and often as a source of offensive production in the wake of Murray’s injury.

Denver has put themselves in a position to be successful without Murray as long as these two guards perform, especially Barton. We take a look at what to expect from Barton and Rivers individually in 2021 and if their services will be enough to power the Nuggets while Murray recovers.