Por Gilbert McGregor para SportingNews
The 2024-25 NBA season is off to a rough start for the Nuggets, and fans are growing increasingly concerned about guard Jamal Murray.
Through the first four games of the season, Murray is averaging 18.8 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game but is shooting 37.9 percent from the field. Murray’s play to open the season is a continuation of struggles he experienced during the 2024 NBA Playoffs and with Team Canada during the Paris Olympics.
Murray has had some bright spots through his struggles but not enough to ease some of the worries around his overall effectiveness for the team. As Denver looks to turn things around, improved play from Murray would be a great starting point.
What’s wrong with Murray? Here is a look at what may be impacting his play over the past eight months.
Murray’s efficiency has steadily declined since the end of the 2023-24 regular season.
It’s early, but Murray’s 37.9 percent field goal shooting is the lowest mark of his eight-year NBA career. His inefficiency isn’t a product of his shot diet, either. Murray is attempting the fewest 3-pointers per game (5.0) since his rookie season (4.2). His 39.1 percent shooting on over 11 attempts inside the arc is by far a career low.
The table below illustrates some of the issues with Murray, though each sample size becomes increasingly smaller. Factor in his 6.0 points per game on 29.0 percent shooting over four games during the Paris Olympics, and the trend seems much more real.
Over half of Murray’s shot attempts are pull-up jumpers. This season, he is shooting 33.3 percent on pull-ups, a stark contrast from the 44.9 percent he shot on pull-ups on a similar volume in 2023-24. It’s an important shot for his success.
Because Murray can’t effectively get to his bread and butter, he and the Nuggets continue to struggle.
One encouraging sign for the Nuggets is that Murray has a history of starting the season slow. For his career, he’s averaging 14.6 points per game on 40.4 percent shooting in October. He usually peaks in February, posting 19.1 points per game on 48.6 percent shooting for his career.
It will be interesting to see if that trend continues this season.
