Jamal Murray capped his best season with the Denver Nuggets with the NBA ring, stating, “It was worth it.”
Jamal Murray acted as a top-tier teammate for Nikola Jokic and contributed to the Denver Nuggets’ enshrinement in the 2022/23 season, scoring the first NBA championship ring for the Colorado team.
Since arriving at the franchise as the seventh pick in the first round of the 2016 NBA Draft, the guard went through six seasons before showing his best performance. This coincided with a prominent collective campaign and culminated in Monday night’s celebration.
Under the direction of Michael Malone, the Nuggets sealed the Finals series with a 4-1 victory over the Miami Heat. Murray, a former University of Kentucky player, contributed 14 points in his 41 minutes on the court in Game 5. However, it was his overall performance throughout the season and the playoffs that stood out.
It was a remarkable season for the Ontario-born player, averaging 20 points, 6.2 assists and 4 rebounds per game in his 65 appearances. In the 20 playoff games, he averaged 26.1 points, 7.1 assists and 5.7 rebounds.
“It’s an incredible feeling to go from being torn and crying to getting to this point,” the 26-year-old Canadian said emotionally, recalling the rupture of the anterior cruciate ligaments in his left knee suffered in the 2020/21 season.
Continuing his speech, expressing his personal feelings in front of the crowd at the Ball Arena, Murray commented: “Everyone on the team believed in me and my ability to be myself again. We have shown those who doubted that they were not right.”
In addition, the bodyguard feels that his perseverance had its reward. “It was worth it. I’ve learned a lot about myself over the last few postseasons, dealing with a thousand things in my head. I saw my teammates go through difficult times, but we knew that if we were healthy, we were capable of this.”