For whatever reason, it doesn’t seem like the national media has fully caught on to the season Jamal Murray is having. Part of it is likely that Jamal is a veteran player, and most fans and pundits have already put him into a box, assuming that he is what he is at this point. But another part of it is the Jokic effect, where much of his production gets excused away because he benefits so greatly from playing with Nikola Jokic.
While there is definitely some truth to that, it doesn’t paint the whole picture, and it’s extremely unfair to Jamal. On a recent episode of the Game Theory podcast, Bryce Simon of Motor City Hoops pushed back against anti-Murray rhetoric, pointing out that the Nuggets have been down multiple starters all season, and Murray has taken his game to another level to help carry the team.
Obviously, Jokic deserves the most credit, but there is more to go around, and Murray deserves a lot. He’s averaging 25.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 6.8 assists per game on the season while shooting 45.7% on threes. He has only missed one game all season and has brought a level of consistency to the Nuggets’ offense that has been lacking in past years.
Murray hasn’t missed a beat with multiple starters out
The most remarkable aspect is that Murray has continued to perform, regardless of the supporting cast. Jokic has been there so far, but that’s about to change with his knee injury, meaning, at least for now, Murray will be the only healthy starter, and his workload will get even bigger.
But he has shown no signs of slowing down, and it hasn’t mattered who’s out there with him. Peyton Watson was on the fringe of the rotation last year, but he has been starting most of this season. Spencer Jones is on a two-way deal and was expected to spend most of his time in the G-League, but he has been a regular starter for the Nuggets this season.
Guys like Tim Hardaway Jr., Bruce Brown, and Jonas Valanciunas were brought in to bolster depth, but now they may all have to start for the foreseeable future. Jokic’s numbers and play deservedly overshadow everything else going on, but Murray deserves his flowers for the season he’s having, and no matter how good the Joker has been, this team would not be 22-10 and competing for a top spot in the West without Jamal.
Now, he’ll get his biggest test yet as he’ll have to carry the Nuggets’ offense for at least a month until Jokic gets back. If it seemed like he didn’t have enough attention before, that will change now - for better or worse. The NBA world will be fixated on the Nuggets and how they perform without Jokic. If Murray can keep his heater going and keep the team afloat, he should finally start to get the credit he deserves.