The Denver Nuggets suffered a big blow on Tuesday when it was revealed that star point guard Jamal Murray sustained a torn ACL.
Shams Charania of The Athletic broke the bad news of Murray’s major knee injury, which occurred Monday’s loss to the Golden State Warriors:
On a routine, hard drive to the basket late in the game, Murray planted awkwardly on his left leg, and his knee buckled as he collapsed to the court. It’s a devastating turn of events, and particularly difficult since there was less than a minute on the clock and Golden State already had the win well in hand.
Murray broke out in the Orlando bubble during the 2020 NBA postseason, teaming with Nikola Jokic to lead the Nuggets to the Western Conference Finals. That run included a stunning rally from a 3-1 second-round deficit to stun the Los Angeles Clippers in seven games.
Although Denver bowed out to the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers, Murray elevated his game to another level and proved he could be a cornerstone on a legitimate title contender.
Unfortunately, any aspirations the Nuggets had of going one step further during the NBA playoffs were dashed with Murray sidelined for the foreseeable future. Jokic, Michael Porter Jr. and the rest of the squad will need to play extraordinarily well for Denver to advance out of the first round.
After a sluggish start to the 2020-21 campaign due in part to the short turnaround, the Nuggets roared back, and Murray continued his stellar form from the bubble.
Murray, 24, averaged 21.2 points on 47.7% shooting and 40.8% from beyond the arc on 6.6 3-point attempts per contest in 48 games. All those numbers were career-highs.
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