Jamal Murray returned to Denver nearly two weeks ago, but the Nuggets guard remains without a contract extension.
It’s not a big deal – for now. Check back in a month.
In late June, The Athletic reported that Murray and the Nuggets were working on a $209 million contract extension that would keep the starting point guard in Denver through the 2028-29 season. The Denver Gazette attempted to confirm that information through team sources at the time, but was unable to do so. A few weeks later, Denver general manager Calvin Booth said he didn’t expect negotiations to drag on too long after the Paris Olympics.
“When he comes back and this is all wrapped up, I think it’ll be pretty easy,” Booth said in an interview with SiriusXM. “I don’t think it’ll be a big negotiation.”
Murray’s uneventful Olympic run with the Canadian national team ended Aug. 6. The 27-year-old was photographed working out in Denver with some of the Nuggets’ younger players on Aug. 14. The Denver Gazette reached out to multiple team sources for an update on negotiations over the weekend but did not hear back Sunday night. Without an extension, Murray would become an unrestricted free agent next summer.
That’s not a cause for concern, but that will change if the impasse drags on into late September, when preparations for the upcoming season begin in earnest. If the Nuggets and Murray don’t have an extension in place within a month, it will be the talk of the media and could become a distraction ahead of a pivotal season. The Nuggets already have enough on the court to sort out, from replacing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to integrating Russell Westbrook and Dario Saric into the second unit.
Team president Josh Kroenke, speaking at the BMW Championship earlier this week, gave the impression that the franchise placed more importance on Murray’s record as a playoff-defining player and second-best player on a championship team than his injury history and the inconsistency he showed in last season’s playoffs and Olympics.
“I would like to focus on the end of the season, the playoffs or the Olympics, but I generally think about what’s happened over the last couple of years, how many games he’s played, how many games all of our players have played, and the wear and tear on their bodies. I think that showed up toward the end of the regular season and certainly carried over into the playoffs. Jamal was also pretty injured. I think that’s something that gets underappreciated because of how tough he is,” Kroenke said.
“He was playing through difficult times that probably would have kept most people from playing.”
His health is reasonable. After playing 75 or more games in each of his first three NBA seasons, Murray has played 59, 48, zero, 65 and 59 regular-season games over the last five regular seasons, respectively. The torn ACL suffered in 2021 was the most serious, but there have been a series of hamstring, calf, shin, ankle and tibia issues that have limited his availability since his return. Asked in July whether that injury history would impact Denver’s willingness to offer Murray a max contract, Booth declined to answer.
“It’s between Jamal’s representation and our team, but we view Jamal as a star player,” Booth said. “When you look at it that way, he’ll probably end up getting what he deserves.”
Jayson Tatum (Boston) (five years, $314 million), Lauri Markkanen (Utah) (four years, $196 million), Jalen Brunson (New York) (four years, $157 million), Bam Adebayo (Miami) (three years, $165 million) and Donovan Mitchell (Cleveland) (three years, $150 million) signed the most lucrative contract extensions of the offseason. Tatum was the only one to sign a super-max extension, for which Murray does not qualify. The terms reported by The Athletic give Murray a slightly higher average annual salary than Mitchell. Murray beat Mitchell in the bubble and helped the Nuggets win a championship a few seasons later, while Mitchell was thrilled to be traded to Cleveland.
That should earn Murray favor with Denver management. We’ll find out next month how much that means for the franchise.
