Has Jamal Murray elevated himself to star status?
The answer is a resounding No. Jamal Murray is one of the most polarizing young guards in a highly competitive Western Conference. Many believed that Jamal was on the verge of becoming a Star this season because of his playoff performance. And no one should be ashamed of making that assumption.
Throughout the Playoffs, Jamal exploded for two 50 point games and one 40 point game flashing his ability to create for others and the ability to create offense for himself in the clutch during the Jazz/Nuggets Playoff Leading his team to come back from Two 3-1 deficit vs the Jazz and Clippers all the signs pointed to multiple all-star appearances. But as this season has shown us so far that is not the case.
Building on Playoff success
Going into the season The Denver Nuggets looked to be on the verge of becoming a true contender Playing the eventual champions Los Angeles Lakers to multiple games down the wire with lead guard Jamal Murray averaging 25 PPG and 7.4 APG eventually losing in five games. Even with the losses of Forward Jerami Grant, Center Mason Plumlee, and Guard Torrey Craig many still believed with Jamal’s newfound status as a breakout player and the emergency of Micheal Porter Jr. The nuggets had what it takes to make noise in the western conference.
But the problem here is has anyone seen the NBA Playoff bubble version of Jamal? The Nuggets would appreciate it if he returned to that form as soon as possible.
Jamal Murray Continues to not show any sort of elevation or improvement to his game during the regular season. Sure we can label Jamal as a “16 game player” that turns it on when the light shines the brightest on the biggest stage but Jamal has shows no signs of his playoff heroics during the regular season and it is detrimental to their championship aspirations.
The real Jamal Murray reveals himself
During those playoffs, Jamal averaged 26.5 PPG 6.6 APG, and 4.8 RPG hooting a scorching hot 45% from three on 7 attempts per game. Up from Jamal’s 2019-2020 season stats were 17.5 PPG, 4.8 APG, 4.0 RPG per game, and shooting 34.6% from three.
So far this season Jamal is averaging 19.3 PPG, 4.3 APG, and 3.8 RPG while shooting 34% from three and also being a complete liability on the defensive side of the ball with streaky shooting and questionable playmaking. It’s perplexing, to say the least. It seems the only thing that Jamal Murray can bring on a consistent basis is mediocracy & It goes to show that a single playoff run does not define a player.
In the western conference playoff-hopeful teams filled with dynamic duos such as the Portland Trail Blazers with Damian Lillard & CJ McCollum, Chris Paul & Devin Booker, Anthony Davis & Lebron James, and Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. It looks as If the Denver Nuggets will remain in the Pretender category of teams as they continue to put their hopes and dreams that Jamal Murray will become the star that Nikola Jokic needs to join the upper echelon teams in the NBA. If I were them I wouldn’t hold my breath.
