After a summer full of potential and intrigue fell flat for Jamal Murray following a disappointing Olympic campaign, it’s starting to become clear that he wasn’t firing on all cylinders.
The Kitchener, Ont., native entered training camp with the Canadian men’s basketball team this summer under the idea that he would form a dynamic backcourt pairing with Shai Gilgous-Alexander, yet that dream scenario quickly vanished as Murray required a ramp-up period heading into Paris that included a minutes restriction and struggled once the action got underway.
He averaged just six points on 29 per cent shooting from the field and 14.3 per cent shooting from beyond the arc through four games. This was a stark difference compared to his 2023-24 NBA season averages of 21.2 points on 48.1 and 42.5 per cent shooting over 59 games.
Even more surprising was Murray being essentially a no-show in Canada’s quarterfinal loss to host France as he finished the game with seven points on 3-of-13 shooting and three turnovers. This was in contrast to his trademark ability to step up when the lights have been the brightest, as evidenced by a 2023 title run with Denver in which he averaged 26 points a game and shot nearly 40 per cent from three.
Following his lackluster play while donning a red-and-white jersey for the first time since 2015, and Canada’s disappointing exit, some speculated that Murray’s unusually timid play and hesitancy might’ve been the result of injuries.
And that notion was all but confirmed on Wednesday by Denver Nuggets president Josh Kroenke from the Gardner Hendrick Pro-Am, part of the BMW Championship at Castle Pines Golf Club, to the Denver Post.
“When you’re going against the best in the world, whether it’s in the NBA playoffs or in the Olympics, you’re gonna get (opponents) best shot,” Kroenke said, per Bennett Durando of the Denver Post. “And if you’re not 100 per cent and you know you want to be out there still, you’re gonna try to fight through it like Jamal is … but I know he wasn’t 100 per cent.”
Heading into Olympic training camp, Murray was coming off a second-round playoff exit at the hands of the Minnesota Timberwolves in which he was visibly hampered by a left calf strain. During the post-season, as he battled several ailments, he averaged 18.4 points per game on 40.3 per cent shooting from the field and 31.5 per cent from three-point range — a streak of inefficiency he carried into Paris.
Meanwhile, looming over the 2023 NBA champ and the Nuggets through all this is a contract extension he’s eligible to sign this off-season, ahead of the final year of his current deal.
Murray is eligible for up to a four-year, $208.5-million max extension, and although it was previously reported the two sides were working toward getting it done, no extension has been confirmed.
Last month, Nuggets general manager Calvin Booth said he believed an agreement with the star guard was going to be “pretty easy” and that he didn’t think it would be “much of a negotiation.”
Yet two seasons removed from an ACL tear and another season filled with injuries to his ankle, hamstring and calf, “among others” as Kroenke identified, it appears the organization has more to ponder than previously anticipated.
“For me, in particular, as much as I would love to focus in on the end of the season or the playoffs or the Olympics, I usually think even kind of one step higher. You think about it (in terms of) over kind of the last couple of years,” Kroenke said, when asked how he’s weighing Murray’s poor stretch of play into contract considerations. “The amount of games that he’s played, the amount of games that all of our guys have played, and the wear and tear on their bodies. So, I think that showed up toward the end of the regular season.
“It definitely trickled into the playoffs. And Jamal was also pretty banged-up. I think that’s something that gets underestimated because of how tough he is as a person. He was playing through some dings, some pretty good dings, that probably would keep most people out of games.”
For what it’s worth, Kroenke believes that his point guard can bounce back from his poor play and recent injury luck.
“Jamal’s a great player, one of the best in the NBA, and however he felt personally that the Olympics were for him … I know he was frustrated a little bit,” Kroenke said. “So, I have no doubt that he’ll use that the right way for motivation going into the season.”