Jamal Murray limited in practice, status moving forward in doubt

Jamal Murray’s rough start to the season has continued with his latest hiccup, which has kept him sidelined with an injury.

The Denver Nuggets guard was limited in the team’s practice on Wednesday after missing each of the last two games with a hamstring injury. Murray has already missed five of the team’s 22 games this season as he sat for a trio of contests early due to a concussion.

Michael Malone told reporters on Wednesday that Murray was active for parts of the team’s practice ahead of Friday’s game against the Clippers. Murray’s status for that game is in doubt.

Michael Malone says Murray was active for parts of practice. Malone guessed Murray would be questionable for Friday's game against the Clippers. https://t.co/ypQGnqE4Wh

— Vinny Benedetto (@VBenedetto) December 11, 2024

The biggest story with the Blue Arrow is not how banged up he is, which has sadly been too normal of his time in Denver. Rather, what most are focused on is Murray’s struggles when he’s been good enough to go.

Murray, 27, hasn’t scored this few points per game since his third year in the league and his shooting marks mirror that of his rookie season. Coming off a summer where he signed another max contract many had hoped Murray would turn a corner this season. At 17.8 points a night on 33% shooting from deep, that just hasn’t been the case. However, there is hope as the veteran guard has ramped up over the season through his career with his worst marks always coming early in campaigns.

Murray’s rough stretch is one of the bigger reasons the Nuggets are off to a middling 12-10 start despite unbeliever play. The good news is that nine of the Nuggets’ next 10 games come against teams who are currently around or below .500 with a majority of them being in Denver. Realistically, especially if Murray is healthy, the Nuggets could take off over the next month and their record would hide some of the team’s issues.

Maybe a bigger problem than Murray’s shortcomings has been the team’s lack of three-point shooting on offense and its inability to defend deep-range shots on defense. When Murray does play it’s putting more pressure on his shots, giving him less space to drive and then forcing him to run way more on defense. Simply stated, the Nuggets recipe is thing cooking the team right now, and possibly even amplifying Murray’s rough start.