Jamal Murray Says He Doesn’t Get Enough Respect: ‘I’m Better Than a Lot of Players’

AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post

Jamal Murray has never made an All-NBA or All-Star team in his six NBA seasons.

He says he’s tired of the disrespect.

“I don’t think I get enough respect as I should be,” Murray told Marc J. Spears of Andscape. “I’m better than a lot of players in the league. Every time I see rankings of guys I think, ‘Man, that is crazy.’ Maybe it’s because I have been out for so long. But if we win the chip, it changes everything.”

Murray has been a full-fledged co-star next to Nikola Jokić during these playoffs, averaging 27.2 points, 6.2 assists and 5.5 rebounds across 13 games. He was sensational in Thursday’s Game 2 win over the Los Angeles Lakers, scoring 23 of his 37 points in the fourth quarter to lead Denver to a 108-103 victory.

The Nuggets are two wins away from reaching the first NBA Finals in franchise history, thanks in no small part to Murray playing like an All-NBA guard.

Of course, it’s fair to point out Murray has been a historically different player in the playoffs than over the course of an 82-game season. In his 46 career playoff games, Murray has averaged 25.1 points, 5.9 assists and 4.9 rebounds. His career regular-season averages are 16.9 points, 3.7 rebounds and 4.2 assists.

The 2022-23 season was the first time Murray even averaged 20 points in a season when he played at least 50 games. The reason Murray is rarely mentioned among the NBA’s best guards is, frankly, it’s a loaded position and his macro-level stats don’t compare to some of the game’s top superstars.

If Murray’s able to extrapolate his playoff performance level over the course of a full season, we might start seeing him mentioned in those conversations.