ESPN analysts unfairly bash Nuggets for Murray contract extension

The Nuggets have taken some heat for their offseason; the contracts they signed and the ones they didn’t as well. The team took much criticism for letting Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in free agency and rightfully so. They also got blasted for trading three draft picks to dump Reggie Jackson’s contract.

The team received mixed reviews for their cheap free-agency additions of veterans Dario Saric and Russell Westbrook. Most people seemed to like the players and their fits but questioned the amount of money and the player options for next season.

But the most polarizing move of the offseason became the contract situation and eventual extension the team gave to Jamal Murray. Murray was sitting in limbo for much of the offseason after a rough playoffs and an even rougher Olympics for Team Canada. He was set to enter the final year of his contract before finally agreeing to a max extension of four years, $208 million in early September.

The Nuggets were clearly in a tough spot in this situation as they were drawing ire for not extending Murray and heading into the season with him unsigned could have created a disastrous situation. On the other hand, once the deal was signed, many were weighing in and claiming that the Nuggets had overpaid.

ESPN critical of Murray contract

On a recent episode of the Hoops Collective podcast with Brian Windhorst, Tim Bontemps, and Tim McMahon all from ESPN, the analysts discussed the contract and the Nuggets’ situation in detail. Overall, the three were very hard on the team and their recent plans.

They were unfairly harsh on the team for signing the deal and being as hypocritical as ever. They suggested that based on Murray’s poor recent play, they should have let him enter preseason and see how he looked before giving him the deal. They also suggested that there would be no free agency market for Murray in the offseason so the Nuggets should have played hardball.

Nuggets had no choice but to make this deal

But this is an overly optimistic take that isn’t based in reality. We’ve seen these types of situations play out on numerous occasions. Once the relationship is severed, things can get ugly, and Murray walking for nothing would have been a nightmare scenario.

It’s easy for these analysts to act like there aren’t relationships at play, but the Nuggets don’t want to piss off one of their star players for no reason. The team was in a tough spot, and the money was a bit daunting, but to keep a championship core together, this move was a no-brainer.

For these analysts to act like this was a bad decision by the Nuggets is crazy. Sure, other things could have been handled better leading up to this, but in a vacuum, the Murray contract was a must and the team did the right thing.