How Jamal Murray helps Denver Nuggets avoid new NBA penalty

Multiple reports surfaced on Monday morning that the NBA is considering implementing a punishment for teams who overdo load management. Thanks to Jamal Murray, the Denver Nuggets may be able to exploit a loophole to avoid any sort of financial penalty this season.

According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, the new policy would punish organizations that rest more than one “star player” in any given game. For a player to qualify as a star, they must have been named to an All-Star or All-NBA team at some point over the past three seasons.

“Under current discussions among team and league personnel, a star is defined by someone who’s made an All-Star or All-NBA team in the past three seasons, sources said,” Charania reported in a tweet.

How does Jamal Murray help the Denver Nuggets avoid punishment?

Murray appeared in 65 regular-season games for the Nuggets last season, after missing the entire 2021-22 campaign as he recovered from a torn ACL. He did not represent Canada in this summer’s FIBA World Cup, instead electing to recover from Denver’s long climb to the NBA’s mountain top this spring.

This all matters because he could be a player who requires a bit more extra rest to remain sharp over the course of an 82-game season.

Thankfully, the Nuggets should be able to get Murray the rest he needs without getting penalized.

Here’s why.

Again, the NBA is cracking down on teams that rest two “star players” in any given game. Well, Murray technically isn’t a star. He’s never been named to an All-Star team or an All-NBA team, meaning that he is a player that Denver can rest alongside Nikola Jokic if need be.

Jokic is the lone member of the Nuggets who qualifies as a star, so this isn’t a policy that is going to affect them right away.

However, if Murray is able to earn either of the aforementioned honors this year, then they’ll have to worry more about load management in the future.