The Denver Nuggets‘ fringe All-Star point guard Jamal Murray has aimed to remove the ‘fringe’ from that label this season, as he’s continued to author a masterful start to the 2025-26 campaign.
Murray has exploded for several massive performances and averaged 27.0 points, 6.0 assists and 4.3 rebounds for Denver through four games to begin the year, but a recent update from the Nuggets has called his availability for their first NBA Cup game of the season into question.
Prior to their NBA Cup matchup against the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday night, Murray appeared on the Nuggets’ injury report with a questionable tag due to left calf tightness.
With Murray’s incredible beginning to the new season stalled by a calf injury, it may be in Denver’s best interests to either hold him out of their upcoming bout entirely or consider a minutes restriction.
At this point in the year, potentially running the risk of aggravating a calf injury and subsequently missing your second-best player for an extended period should be in the back of head coach David Adelman’s mind as their faceoff against a physical, young Trail Blazers squad approaches.
If he were to suit up for the Nuggets on Friday night, Murray would likely be matched up against Portland’s All-Defensive Team-caliber forward Toumani Camara, a one-on-one battle that would call for the Nuggets’ 28-year-old guard to exert plenty of energy and use extra force in an effort to receive open looks.
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