Opinion: Nuggets star Jamal Murray is simply underrated

Jamal Murray (YouTube)

Jamal Murray of the Denver Nuggets continued his magic this week on the basketball court. In a 142-135 Nuggets win over the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday, Murray scored 53 points. It was the sixth time in his NBA career that Murray had at least 50 points in a game and the second time this season. He also accomplished the feat by scoring 52 points in a 135-120 Nuggets win over the Indiana Pacers on December 3.

You could make the argument for four obvious reasons why Murray has been underrated.

First, it took him nine years to be a NBA All-Star. That folks is not a misprint. Despite recording four 50 point games in his career prior to 2025-26 and scoring a minimum of 20 points per game in each of the last four seasons, Murray was simply overlooked by the NBA voters. Finally, Murray was chosen this season as he is averaging 25.4 points per game.

Second, Murray has been overlooked within the Nuggets organization. For the last several years, Murray has been considered as the second best player on the Nuggets behind MVP Nikola Jokic. There is no doubt that Jokic is the Nuggets’s best player, but the critics fail to recognize how important Murray is on the Nuggets when the praise goes to Jokic’s skill set.

Third, Murray is overlooked within Canada. In 2020, CBC’s Jesse Campigotto wrote a terrible piece criticizing Rob Vanstone of the Regina Leader-Post for voting for Murray rather than soccer star Alphonso Davies or former Kansas City Chiefs offensive lineman Laurent Duvernay-Tardif for the Northern Star Award (Canadian athlete of the year). I instantly went to my email account and sent an email to Vanstone where I told him I agreed with his selection. Vanstone graciously responded.

Fourth, Murray is a winner. The Nuggets simply do not win the 2023 NBA Finals without him.