Prominent NBA analyst thinks Nuggets are playing a dangerous game with prime of Jokic

A lot of NBA media members take a good chunk of the offseason off as the content and news cycle slows down for the end of the summer. That has been the case with ESPN’s Zach Lowe, one of the sharpest minds in the industry, who released his first podcast in over a month on Tuesday.

Lowe had guest, Kevin Pelton on the Lowe Post Podcast and the two ripped through their most intriguing teams and storylines as the NBA world gets ready for training camp. They talked through most of the teams in the league and especially the Western Conference which both analysts agreed will be wide open this season.

Zach Lowe makes prediction about future of Jamal Murray

The Nuggets came up quite a bit during the podcast and they were discussed as one of the teams that should be in the mix in the West, but not a clear favorite. The first thing that was mentioned was Jamal Murray, his suspect offseason, and his murky contract situation.

Lowe claimed that he “expects” a deal to get done and predicted that Murray will sign an extension with the Nuggets to keep him in Denver. It was a lukewarm prediction at best though and Lowe hardly sounded confident. He also didn’t seem to be reporting any information, more that he just couldn’t fathom any other outcome.

Lowe and Pelton wary of the way Nuggets are running the team

When going in-depth about the Nuggets, Lowe and Pelton spoke about what the Nuggets have been doing with the team and how they are managing the prime of Nikola Jokic. The team has a clear championship window with one of the best players of all time in Jokic.

But the hosts were shocked at the way the Nuggets have handled the whole situation with Murray and beyond. It started with letting Bruce Brown get away two years ago and continued with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope leaving this summer.

But now this Murray situation is something on another level. He’s the clear second-best player and co-star to Jokic on a team that won a title in 2023 and now it appears the team is playing hardball with him. Ultimately, Murray may end up signing the extension and this whole conversation will be moot, but at least for now, the way the Nuggets are operating is raising many eyebrows around the league.