Nuggets president Josh Kroenke has spoken about Jamal Murray’s rather forgettable Olympic campaign for Canada.
Murray has been battling various injuries during key moments of the basketball calendar this year.
In the 2023-24 playoffs, Murray averaged 20.6 points a game on 40.2 percent shooting from the field and 31.5 percent from three.
Then in Paris, his production got worse, after he averaged just six points per game on 29 percent shooting from the field and 14.3 percent from three.
This is a far cry from his average of 26.1 points on 47.3 percent shooting from the field and 39.6 percent from deep from during the Nuggets’ postseason championship campaign.
Granted, Murray suffered a calf injury in the first-round series against the Lakers, then a elbow injury in the Western Conference Finals against the Wolves.
Nuggets president Kroenke believes niggling injuries were the only reason Murray underperformed on the world stage.
“When you’re going against the best in the world, whether it’s in the NBA playoffs or in the Olympics, you’re gonna get (opponents’) best shot. And if you’re not 100 percent and you know you want to be out there still, you’re gonna try to fight through it like Jamal is…,” he told The Denver Post.
“But I know he wasn’t 100 percent. I know getting him back there is a big step toward seeing the Jamal who was throwing up triple-doubles in the NBA Finals.”
He went on to explain how injuries to Murray and others at the back end of the season hurt the Nuggets’ chances of retaining their title.
“For me in particular, as much as I would love to focus in on the end of the season or the playoffs or the Olympics, I usually think even kind of one step higher. You think about it (in terms of) over kind of the last couple of years,” Kroenke said. “The amount of games that he’s played — the amount of games that all of our guys have played — and the wear and tear on their bodies. So I think that showed up toward the end of the regular season. It definitely trickled into the playoffs. And Jamal was also pretty banged up. I think that’s something that gets underestimated because of how tough he is as a person. He was playing through some dings, some pretty good dings, that probably would keep most people out of games.”