Jamal Murray still hopes to join Canada at Olympics
“Just trying to get my body right,” Murray said regarding the injury-littered start to his 2023-24 season.
TORONTO >> Jamal Murray’s postgame news conferences during the Nuggets’ annual trips to Canada have become almost as big a deal as the games themselves. Especially now that he’s an NBA champion.
In his latest, after scoring 20 points in a 113-104 win over the Raptors on Wednesday night, Murray reaffirmed his plan to join Team Canada at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris — if he stays healthy between now and then.
That’s easier said than done, if the first two months of this season are any indicator.
“I’m still trying to get there (to the level I want to play at),” the Nuggets point guard said. “Obviously I’ve been in and out of the lineup. Just trying to get my body right. I’ve been on a minutes restriction for a while now. So just trying to build my way up and stay healthy for the remainder of the season. It’s been a rocky beginning, but I think we’re on the right track.”
Murray missed most of November (11 games total) with a right hamstring strain, then he sprained his right and left ankles in separate incidents after returning from the more serious injury. Those sprains caused him to miss three more games combined. While he has reached the point now where his name is fully removed from Denver’s injury reports, he and the team are still being careful to ensure he doesn’t re-aggravate any previous injuries or sustain any new ones.
In Denver’s first six games, Murray averaged more than 34 minutes. Since returning from the hamstring strain, he has averaged 26.7 per game.
“It’s a lot of sacrifice,” he said. “… It’s just trying to get a little rhythm. Have the team flow. Make the ball move, and just kind of play the right way. We want to win every game that we play. So it’s going to be somebody else’s night every night. You’ve just gotta adjust to the flow of the game, so I’ve just been trying to do that. Be aggressive when I need to, miss or make.”
Wednesday was one of his least efficient scoring nights since returning from the initial injury (9 of 22), but he’s still shooting 47.7% from the field, 42.9% from 3-point range and 100% from the foul line in his last eight games.
“He’s finding his rhythm,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said in Toronto. “And when he first came back from the injury he was on a minutes restriction, and that’s frustrating because you really can’t find a rhythm. Just when you’re being told, ‘Just when you get loose, you’ve gotta come out.’ And now as we’re getting away from the minutes restriction, I think he’s finding his rhythm. We know Jamal’s scoring ability. I think what stood out in the postseason was his ability to make everyone around him better. Averaging 10 assists per game in the Finals. … This is to be expected with a guy who had a short offseason and has been unfortunately banged up.”
As for his international participation, Murray was at Canada’s training camp but ultimately pulled out of his commitment to play at the 2023 FIBA World Cup last summer, having already competed into June with the NBA Finals. Even without one of its premier players, Canada pulled off an upset of the U.S. and won the bronze medal at the World Cup.
“It was amazing. It was a great accomplishment,” Murray said. “That’s a country accomplishment. They did it for the country. So I still showed up for training camp. I was still around the guys. I felt the vibe there, and they did a great job. They’re on the come up, and we’ve got enough guys to go out there and compete for gold next year.”
Murray calls Larry O’brien Trophy situation a misunderstanding
Murray was also asked Wednesday about the Larry O’brien Trophy not making it to his hometown of Kitchener, Ontario, near Toronto this offseason. In an interview with Sportsnet after the Nuggets won the title, Murray had announced his intentions to bring the NBA championship trophy to Kitchener. However, the trophy did not end up making the journey to any players’ hometowns — unlike the Stanley Cup in hockey, the Larry O’brien does not traditionally make the rounds during the summer.
“I think that was a misunderstanding,” Murray said Wednesday. “I think I asked for it late while I was free, because I was doing a lot of traveling this summer. So I think when we get another one, I’ll just bring both.”