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Basketball – Olympic Games Paris 2024: Day 11
In last year’s NBA playoffs, Jamal Murray — slowed by a calf strain among other nagging physical issues — averaged 20.6 points a game on 40.2% shooting (31.5% from 3), numbers well off what he did a year prior when helping the Nuggets to an NBA title.
At the Paris Olympics, things were worse. The Canadian guard averaged 6 points a game on 29% shooting, including 14.3% from beyond the arc, and he averaged a team-high 2.3 turnovers a game as the Canadians went home without hardware.
All those rough numbers are because Murray is still playing through injuries and isn’t 100%, Denver president Josh Kroenke told Bennett Durando of 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. And if you’re not 100% 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%. I know getting him back there is a big step toward seeing the Jamal who was throwing up triple-doubles in the NBA Finals.”
That’s what a team president is expected to do: stick up for his star players and put a positive spin on things. That said, if Denver is going to return to the Finals with a roster leaning hard into young players like Christain Braun and Peyton Watson for depth, it is going to need the Jamal Murray from the 2023 postseason.
Denver is willing to bet that Murray returns. Earlier this offseason, Murray and the Nuggets reportedly agreed to the broad outline of a four-year, $208.5 million max extension, however, the details of that were still being debated and were put on the back burner until after the Olympics. That contract has not yet been finalized and signed.
It’s pretty simple: These Nuggets are title contenders so long as they have Nikola Jokic at the peak of his powers, but the team isn’t as deep and doesn’t have the margin for error it did just a couple of seasons ago. That means, among other things, the Nuggets need a healthy and playing at his peak Murray to make it all work. They are about to pay…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nuggets-president-jamal-murrays-rough-184923466.html
Author : NBC Sports
Publish date : 2024-08-22 18:49:23
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