Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray has suffered a torn ACL of the left knee and will be out indefinitely, the team announced Tuesday. Though no timetable has been set for his return, with an injury like this, it is likely he’ll miss the remainder of the season. Murray suffered the injury in Monday night’s game against the Golden State Warriors, when he tried to attack the basket, but as soon as he tried to elevate off his left leg, he immediately fell to the floor and looked to be in serious pain.
He refused a wheelchair when the injury occurred, and instead limped off the court with assistance.
Losing Murray is a significant blow for a Denver team that has been on a tear lately. The Nuggets made moves at the trade deadline to acquire Aaron Gordon and JaVale McGee to bolster their roster for what they expected to be a deep postseason run led by MVP frontrunner Nikola Jokic and Murray. Now, with a little over a month left in the season, Denver will be without its second-leading scorer in Murray, who was having a standout season.
After having a breakout performance in the NBA bubble last season, where he averaged 26.5 points and 6.6 assists in the Nuggets’ surprise postseason run to the Western Conference Finals. Murray carried over that production into this season. He started the season out slowly, struggling with his efficiency, but really started to catch fire around February, where he was shooting 51 percent from the field and 46 percent from deep. He’s averaging career highs across the board, and has been a crucial part to Denver’s success lately.
Losing a talent like Murray is devastating, and practically irreplaceable. With him out, it will mean that guys like Michael Porter Jr., — who is also having a breakout season — and Will Barton will have to step it up on offense to try to make up for the loss of Murray’s production.
