The Nuggets are clearly playing for the present. Despite the roster’s shortcomings and the fact that they fired the GM and coach in the final week of the regular season, this is a championship core with the best player in the world in the prime of his career. Make no mistake about it, every season is title-or-bust for as long as Nikola Jokic is playing at this level.
And through 9 playoff games, the team has largely risen to the occasion. Jokic has been his typically brilliant self, while Aaron Gordon, Russell Westbrook, and Christian Braun have all played just about as well as you could reasonably hope.
The only real disappointment has been Michael Porter Jr.'s play, and he has a pretty valid excuse: He suffered a shoulder injury and probably shouldn’t even be out there. He has certainly struggled at times, but he deserves a lot of credit for toughing it out and giving Denver whatever much-needed minutes he can.
And then there’s Jamal Murray. Murray had the huge 43-point explosion in Game 5 against the Clippers, but other than that, he has been pretty pedestrian for the standards of “Playoff Murray”. In the other eight playoff games, he is averaging under 20 points per game and hasn’t scored more than 23 points in a game.
Murray needs to step up for Denver to beat Thunder
It’s not like Jamal has been bad or anything; he has mostly been solid and has hit plenty of big shots, but for this team to reach its ceiling and have any real chance to be Thunder, Murray has to be more than solid; he needs to be great.
That’s not an easy task against this vicious OKC defense that has a preposterous combination of elite defenders to throw at Murray, but that’s the assignment. When Jamal has it going, it doesn’t matter who is guarding him. We’ve seen him take over countless playoff games, and so far, other than the one time, we just haven’t seen him hit that gear.
Now luckily, the Nuggets stole a game on the road, and they are heading back to Denver with the series tied 1-1. It’s not too late for Murray to crank it up to another level and provide some vintage performances. If he can do that, the Nuggets have a very serious chance at winning this series.
When this team looks like a contender, it’s Jokic and Murray, with everyone else chipping in, but if it’s just Jokic and everyone else, with Murray being more of a role player than a star, the team just doesn’t have the juice to win a championship.
If Murray can’t be a #2, tough decisions for Denver
But if Murray isn’t able to rise to the occasion, this team will most likely lose the series, and they’ll be staring at some tough decisions this offseason. They need to reconfigure and balance the roster around Jokic this summer, and the only way to do it is by trading a core player for a talent upgrade, or multiple players.
Everyone assumes that MPJ will be the guy on the chopping block, but with the way this season and playoffs have gone, and Porter Jr.’s lofty contract, he isn’t going to be easy to deal, and may actually be a negative asset on the market. They can’t afford to simply dump his contract, as he’s too valuable to the team, but it’s going to be hard to find a deal that makes the Nuggets better next season.
It sounds crazy, but if the new front office decides that Murray isn’t good enough to be the Robin to Jokic’s Batman anymore, then he may suddenly find himself in trade rumors. Denver could surely still get a haul back in a Murray deal, and may be interested in more durable players who may help the team’s depth and defense.
They’d still need to replace Murray’s offense, and that won’t be easy. If they determine that Jamal isn’t a capable number two, they need to find someone who is, and that’s a major challenge. But if they do decide that Murray isn’t the guy, things are going to get very interesting very quickly.