When Murray and I spoke at UC San Diego during training camp three months ago \u2014 long before this rash of injuries wrecked the very plan they spent all that time putting in place \u2014 the 29-year-old had never seemed lighter. He was a man unburdened, with the messiness and (relative) mediocrity of the previous season having made way for a summer that left his mind and body revitalized.<\/p>\n
In stark contrast to the offseason before, when the combination of his contract situation and physical ailments made his Olympic experience with Team Canada more challenging than he\u2019d hoped for, Murray had found his balance again. He had time to travel, citing treks to Japan and the Cayman Islands as the top highlights in between trips back to his adopted home in Denver.<\/p>\n
There was plenty of time to \u201cjust chill and take care of the family,\u201d said Murray, whose young daughter is a regular at the team\u2019s facility<\/a>. He enjoyed a steady dose of his second-favorite sport: the UFC training he has taken part in for quite a few years now<\/a>.<\/p>\n After all the chaos that they\u2019d navigated in early April, <\/a>when the Nuggets fired their general manager and longtime coach just days before the playoffs began and ultimately fell to eventual champion Oklahoma City in the second round, Murray was badly in need of a basketball break.<\/p>\n \u201c(With) Team Canada, it\u2019s in the middle of my summer, where I got to decompress for a week (after the NBA season), try to get in shape for Team Canada, and then try to decompress for the season,\u201d Murray told me then. \u201cIt was just \u2014 I couldn\u2019t do it. So this summer, just being done \u2014 and really being done \u2014 was an incredible feeling. There was the first week of just doing nothing, then two weeks of doing nothing. And then I just worked out. I didn\u2019t really play basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n Compared to the year before, when ankle injuries had hampered him in the 2024 playoffs and a sore Achilles quietly nagged at him during the Olympics, this was a desperately-needed change of pace.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t have a great summer (training-wise) overall, and that\u2019s what it was,\u201d said Murray, who signed a four-year, $208 million extension in September 2024. \u201cNow I get to come back fresh with a new mindset, and I could leave all that s\u2014 in the past. I was in a much more positive place. \u2026 My body was already good. I already felt refreshed. I got the chance to decompress and fully go back with a good spirit, instead of having to be like, \u2018Oh, damn. I only have two weeks (to rest).\u2019 That was good. That was probably the best part, just having no stress, no hoops to play.\u201d<\/p>\n Little did he know how vital that revival would prove to be.<\/p>\n \n Murray\u2019s play has been a much-needed bright spot for the Nuggets. (Kevin Sousa \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n If there\u2019s one thing that should give the Nuggets hope that they can manage this injury crisis, to hold the line just enough to put themselves in good playoff position by the time April rolls around, it\u2019s the fact that Murray\u2019s offseason of basketball-less bliss has led to him playing the best midseason hoops of his 10-year career. That distinction is key in this conversation, of course, because the 29-year-old has long been known as a slow starter who saves his best for last. In turn, he earned the unwelcome honor of being one of the best players who had never been an All-Star<\/a>.<\/p>\n Not this year, though.<\/p>\n Through Monday night in Miami, when Joki\u0107\u2019s injury changed both the Nuggets\u2019 prospects and the entire landscape of the West, Murray was one of just five players averaging at least 25 points, seven assists and four rebounds (along with Joki\u0107, Detroit\u2019s Cade Cunningham, the Lakers\u2019 Luka Don\u010di\u0107 and the Clippers\u2019 James Harden). The uptick in scoring was the most notable development of them all, as Murray has never averaged more than 21.4 points for a season. Add in the fact that he was the most accurate long-range marksman of the five-player bunch \u2014 45.4 percent from 3-point range on 7.7 attempts per game \u2014 and you start to see why so many believe Murray\u2019s All-Star fate is so likely to (finally) change.<\/p>\n But as was so evident in Denver\u2019s improbable win in Toronto on Wednesday, when Murray faced an evening full of double teams that are about to become his nightly norm, he is about to undergo a much grittier sort of challenge. That legendary two-man game with Joki\u0107 that the Nuggets have enjoyed for most of a decade now, and which propelled them to the title in 2023, has now become a solo act of sorts.<\/p>\n \u201cJust being aggressive, (with) maybe a little more freedom on the ball,\u201d Murray told reporters in Toronto when asked about playing without Joki\u0107. \u201cThe other team knows what they\u2019re going to get from me. (It\u2019s) just staying consistent with that. \u2026 Winning is the priority. But (it\u2019s) just keeping my foot on the gas \u2014 not just to go against the other team but also for my team so that they understand and know what\u2019s going to come behind (his) play. We can build this chemistry over the next month or two to get ready for the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n The loss of Joki\u0107 is as brutal a blow as any team could face, as his greatness extends well beyond the incredible impact he makes individually. He is the ultimate floor-raiser, with the (jaw-dropping) on\/off stats to prove it year after year. This season, with Joki\u0107 (29.6 points, 12.2 rebounds and 11 assists per game) on track to average a triple-double for the second consecutive season, the Nuggets\u2019 net-rating swing was a whopping 17.6 when he came off the floor (plus-12.3 on to minus-5.3 off).<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/USATSI_27913465-scaled.jpg\")
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