Jamal Murray is no stranger to the game of basketball.
Starting at the ripe age of three, Murray quickly picked up the ins and outs of basketball. By age six, Murray was entrenched in a U10 league, before moving onto pickup games in the park at 13 with some of the top high school guards at home. While in high school in Kitchener, Ontario, Murray’s father helped train the future NBA point guard, pushing him to the next level with pushups and laps ran in the snow to increase his pain tolerance and stamina.
The young star played at the NCAA basketball powerhouse, University of Kentucky. Similar players like Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins also came out of UK. After a ‘one-and-done’ season, Murray was selected seventh overall by the Denver Nuggets in 2016.
Murray had an exceptional rookie season. He had new career-highs every few weeks, starting at 19 points and finishing with a 30 point career high. He won rookie of the month on several occasions while earning a spot All-Rookie second team at the close of the season.
This pattern continued through his sophomore season, which concluded with an average of 16.7 points per game and 3.4 assists.
On November 5, 2018, Murray posted 48 points, a career-high, in a 115-107 win over the Boston Celtics. In the postseason that year, he scored 34 points in a quadruple overtime loss against the Portland Trail Blazers.
In December 2019, the Canada native did not hold anything back in an overtime win against the Phoenix Suns. He sank a three-point step-back jumper with 2.5 seconds remaining in overtime to lock down a 113-111 away victory. Poor Kelly.
After missing ten games in January due to a recurring ankle injury, Murray came back better than ever. In the first round matchup of the 2020 NBA playoffs against the Utah Jazz, Jamal Murray joined the likes of Allen Iverson and Michael Jordan, scoring 50+ points in the postseason. Donovan Mitchell of the Utah Jazz scored 50 points as well, making NBA history as the third and fourth players to do so. Above them is Michael Jordan and Allen Iverson.
As the playoffs continue with Nuggets vs. Clippers, will Jamal Murray keep up with his journey to stardom?
