Denver Nuggets star Jamal Murray has done plenty to gain respect from the basketball world over the last few years. He’s averaging 20.5 points and 6.5 assists a game this season, and he got himself his first NBA championship ring last June.
He played a major part in that championship by averaging 26.1 points, 7.1 assists, and 5.7 rebounds in 20 playoff games last year, and he has a history of elevating his game during the postseason.
However, yet again he wasn’t selected to take part in the annual NBA All-Star Game, which will take place this weekend in Indianapolis.
Murray said that whether he gets selected or not, he plays at an All-Star level when he needs to, which is something that has been backed up by stats.
“Obviously, I would love to be an All-Star,” Jamal Murray said. “I’d love to get that kind of recognition. But I think when you win in the playoffs, you win on the biggest stages you play and show yourself on the biggest stages and you prove yourself against those so-called All-Stars, (then it’s) whatever.
“I’m an All-Star when you need the All-Star to show up — in the playoffs. You want the best to step up (then), right? And I think I do a good job of that. So I kind of backed myself up in that way. That’s it. That’s what it is. So it’s just more fuel to the fire.”
Being an All-Star is a terrific honor, but there is so much talent in the NBA these days that every year, there are several players who are deserving of the honor but simply don’t get selected.
Sometimes, not being chosen for the midseason classic can be just the type of motivation a player needs to take his game to the next level.
Murray had to go through the physical and emotional pain of rehabbing from a torn ACL he suffered during the 2021 playoffs. During that rehab process, he reportedly wondered if Denver might trade him, but the team stood by him, and it was rewarded for its loyalty.
He sat out the team’s Wednesday’s contest against the Sacramento Kings, and without him, it blew a 16-point lead and lost 102-98. Kings guard De’Aaron Fox led the charge with 30 points, with 15 of them coming in the fourth quarter, and the loss highlighted how important Murray is to the Nuggets, especially in big moments.
Still, the Nuggets are in fourth place in the Western Conference with a 36-19 record. Perhaps they have been pacing themselves and will kick things into overdrive shortly after the All-Star break.
If they do so, expect Murray to be a huge factor behind such a late-season surge.
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