Jamal Murray returned to Denver nearly two weeks ago, but the Nuggets’ guard remains without a contract extension.
That’s not a big deal - yet. Check back in a month.
Back in late June, The Athletic reported Murray and the Nuggets were working toward a $209-million contract extension that would keep the starting point guard in Denver through the 2028-29 season. The Denver Gazette attempted to confirm that report through team sources at the time but was unable to do so. A couple of weeks later, Denver general manager Calvin Booth said he didn’t expect negotiations to drag on too long after the Paris Olympics.
“When he gets back and that concludes, I think it will be pretty easy,” Booth said in a SiriusXM interview. “I don’t think it will be much of a negotiation.”
Murray’s uneventful Olympic run with the Canadian national team ended on Aug. 6. The 27-year-old was photographed working out in Denver with some of the Nuggets’ younger players on Aug. 14. The Denver Gazette reached out to multiple team sources for an update on negotiations over the weekend but did not receive a response by Sunday evening. Without an extension, Murray would become an unrestricted free agent next summer.
That’s not reason for concern, but that changes if the impasse extends into late September, when preparations for the upcoming season begin in earnest. If the Nuggets and Murray haven’t reached an extension a month from now, it will be the talk of media day and potentially become a distraction leading up to a pivotal season. The Nuggets have enough to figure out on the court from replacing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to integrating Russell Westbrook and Dario Saric into the second unit.
Team president Josh Kroenke, speaking at the BMW Championship earlier this week, made it sound like the franchise weighed Murray’s record of being a clutch playoff performer and second-best player on a championship team more heavily than his injury history and the inconsistency shown in the last season’s playoffs and Olympics.
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“As much as I would love to focus in on the end of the season and the playoffs or the Olympics, I usually think even one step higher and think about it over the last couple of years, the amount of games he’s played – the amount of games all of our guys have played – and the wear and tear on their bodies. I think that showed up toward the end of the regular season and definitely trickled into the playoffs. Jamal was also pretty banged up. I think that’s something that’s underestimated because of how tough he is,” Kroenke said.
“He was playing through some pretty good dings that would probably keep most people out of games.”
His health is a reasonable hold up. After playing 75 or more games in each of his first three NBA seasons, Murray has appeared in 59, 48, zero, 65 and 59 regular-season games, respectively, over the past five regular seasons. The torn anterior cruciate ligament suffered in 2021 was the most serious, but there have been a series of hamstring, calf, shin, ankle and tibia ailments that have limited his availability since his comeback. When asked in July if that injury history would impact Denver’s willingness to offer Murray a straight-up max contract, Booth declined to say.
“That’s between Jamal’s representation and our team, but we look at Jamal as a star player,” Booth said. “When you look at him like that, he’s probably going to end up getting what he deserves.”
Boston’s Jayson Tatum (five years, $314 million), Utah’s Lauri Markkanen (four years, $196 million), New York’s Jalen Brunson (four years, $157 million), Miami’s Bam Adebayo (three years, $165 million) and Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell (three years, $150 million) have signed the most lucrative veteran extensions this offseason. Tatum was the only one to sign a super-max extension, for which Murray does not meet the requirements. The terms reported by The Athletic offer Murray a slightly higher average annual salary than Mitchell. Murray famously outdueled Mitchell in the bubble and went on to help the Nuggets win a championship a few seasons later, while Mitchell was excited to be traded to Cleveland.
That should earn Murray some goodwill from Denver’s front office. Just how much it means to the franchise will come to light in the next month.
