It's well-documented that Jamal Murray has never made an All-Star team in his NBA career. But with all the additions the Denver Nuggets made this summer, he's now going to be in perfect position to finally change that strange reality.
This is one of those NBA facts that if you're not a Nuggets fan, you hear and think it can't possibly be true. It just doesn't seem right to say Jamal Murray of all people has never been named as an All-Star. But eight seasons in the league for him have come and gone (excluding 2021-22), and not one time has he earned the honor.
It sort of makes sense, at least a little bit, when you consider what kind of player Jamal is. He often plays best under pressure, and he's one of the best clutch performers in the league. It's why non-Nuggets fans have affectionately and humorously labeled him a "good team merchant."
When it comes to career accomplishments, Murray has ironically worked backwards in a sense. If he does make an All-Star or All-NBA team in the coming year, he'll of course have done it after winning a championship. Typically when you think about star players, you think of them stacking individual accolades before great team success comes after that. It's the opposite here.
Denver's roster upgrades will suit Murray well
Of course, part of that is due to the fact that Murray has played the entirety of his career alongside Nikola Jokic. Doing that is going to obviously amplify your own game in certain ways, but it also means the individual recognition may not always come your way. And for the record, I'm sure Jamal has no problem selflessly giving Jokic all the credit, since we've seen him do that many times.
But with that in mind, Denver has now shifted their roster around in a way that makes it very easy to feel optimistic about Murray's chances of finally breaking this bizarre streak and ending up with an All-Star nomination during the 2025-26 season.
There's one line of thinking that says adding Tim Hardaway Jr., Bruce Brown, Cam Johnson and Jonas Valanciunas creates a situation where there's too many mouths to feed, and Jamal will have less opportunities to get as many shots per game. But I think the alternative thought process is the correct one here.
The reverse mindset would say that now that there are several more reliable scoring options positioned around Murray, he'll actually have more room to take defenders one-on-one and dominate his individual matchups on a more consistent basis. I think that's the right way of looking at this.
It's always been something of a non-sequitur that Jamal Murray is an NBA champion but never been named an All-Star. I think that fact changes next season.