JAMAL MURRAY KNEW what most people craved after the bubble. They wanted him to propel into outer space without a jetpack and defy gravity, graze the moon and assume his place among the scoring stars in the NBA solar system.
He had done just that in the waning days of a pandemic-stretched summer, matching one incredible pressure shot after another in an epic playoff duel with Utah Jazz star Donovan Mitchell. They became the first two players in NBA history to average 30 points per game on 50% field-goal shooting, 50% on 3-pointers and 90% on free throws in a seven-game series.
Denver Nuggets coach Mike Malone predicts that 20 years from now it will be one of the most replayed series in history because "it had everything that you can imagine."
A global outbreak, an emotional social justice movement, nagging injuries, mental health struggles in the isolating Orlando environment, these were the weighty matters that Murray navigated in between dropping 50 on a vaunted Utah defense. When the Los Angeles Lakers ended Denver's season, Murray had but a moment to exhale. The respite was all too brief. Before Murray even had a chance to take stock of what he'd done, it started right back up again.
"It feels like it never stopped," Murray admits. "My whole life now is an AAU tournament, only it's one that never ends.
"Game day. Off day. Ice, eat, sleep, start over. It's not healthy. But we're doing it."
When the Nuggets teetered to a 6-7 mark early in the 2020-21 season and the fifth-year guard struggled to make shots, the weight of expectations set in. Why wasn't he performing at an All-Star level? Where was Bubble Jamal? Nikola Jokic submitted an early bid as an MVP candidate, but everyone knew Denver was going nowhere unless both stars could shine.
"Jamal set the bar so high," says Tim Connelly, Denver's president of basketball operations. "We knew he had another gear, but then the challenge becomes sustaining that level of productivity."
It was precisely what Malone fretted about during a much too arduous and lengthy stint in the bubble: a truncated offseason for an emerging star who left Orlando nicked up and quickly began battling new ailments upon his return.
"Jamal almost left a piece of himself in Orlando," Malone says. "Was I concerned about what would happen next? Yes. Jamal was not an All Star, not an All-NBA player. And then all of a sudden, he was thrust into the national spotlight. He ran with it, and I'm so proud of him for handling the emotions of it all -- the virus, Black Lives Matter, the scrutiny. It was more than basketball. I don't think people realize the pressure these players were under."
After the Nuggets' Game 6 win over the Jazz last September, Murray was overwhelmed during a post-game courtside interview when asked about his sneakers, featuring a drawing of Breonna Taylor on his left shoe and George Floyd on his right.
"These shoes mean a lot," he said, as tears creased his eyes. "In life, you find things you value. You find things worth fighting for..."
Pressed on why the social justice movement touched him so deeply, he answered, "It's not just America. It happens everywhere."
When he was 9 years old, Murray was strolling with his father down the street in Kitchener, Ontario with a basketball under his arm when a slew of cruisers, sirens blaring, screeched to halt. Multiple officers jumped out, stepped in front of the Murrays and searched them. When Roger Murray asked why they were being targeted, he was informed he and Jamal were "suspicious people."
"That's how it goes for people of color," Murray says. "We can't roam free. Everyone is a suspect. I was a kid, walking in my own neighborhood with my dad."
His voice still cracks when recalling the injustices done to Taylor, Floyd and others. He didn't intend to share his emotions with the world, but when he did, the response was overwhelming. Teammate Monte Morris claims he views Murray in a whole new light.
"He was so raw, so authentic," Morris says. "So many other things in our industry are manufactured, but that was real. I had a million guys texting me after that telling me how touching it was. He's opening eyes."
THERE ARE A number of factors that contributed to the early struggles of this season's Nuggets. Seven players from that Western Conference finals roster did not return, including standout Jerami Grant and key reserves Mason Plumlee and Torrey Craig. "We lost four of our best defenders," says Murray, "and other guys who knew exactly what we were trying to accomplish."
Malone also tweaked the way he wanted the team to play, emphasizing the need to generate more 3s and limit the long-range 2-point shots. "The irony is our two best players are great mid-range shooters," Malone says.
The idea was to keep swinging the ball to create an open 3, but when it came Murray's way, Malone says he wasn't "shot ready." As a result, instead of knocking down the quick trey, he ended up holding the ball and taking a long, difficult 2 -- and missing.
"I finally sat him down and told him, 'Jamal, you need to take eight, ten 3s a game. It's not only hurting you, it's hurting us.'"
What both Malone and Connelly acknowledge -- and Murray won't -- is he was also dealing with an elbow injury that was excruciating whenever extending his arm.
And then there is the off-court reality: Murray's mother, father, and brother are the center of his world, and he hasn't seen any of them since early December. They live in Ontario, and strict Canadian health protocols have made it nearly impossible for them to see each other. Murray talks with his parents regularly and plays video games with his brother, Lamar, over FaceTime.
"My whole life now is an AAU tournament, only it's one that never ends. Game day. Off day. Ice, eat, sleep, start over. It's not healthy. But we're doing it."Nuggets guard Jamal Murray
But his teammates say the void is palpable. The irony that Jokic, who hails from Serbia, has been surrounded by family for months, is not lost on the Nuggets front office.
"Jamal is a very young guy who's used to being around his family -- which is as close knit as I've ever seen -- all the time, and now all of a sudden he can't see them at all," Connelly says. "It's been a real challenge. They're doing a great job of staying connected from afar, but it's not the same thing."
Murray is not fond of excuses, and while he acknowledges that the inability to be with family is isolating, he shrugs it off as part of the job.
"I was alone at Christmas, alone for my birthday," Murray says. "It's not supposed to be easy."
Roger Murray has trained his son for these moments since he was 5 years old, overseeing Jamal while he did pushups in the snow, learned to dribble on a sheet of ice and held a deep knee squat for 12 minutes with a piping hot cup of tea balanced on his thigh. Roger was a regular at most Nuggets games pre-pandemic, but now relies on long-distance recaps postgame and the occasional halftime phone call.
"Whether my dad is at the game or not doesn't really make a difference to me because I'm able to talk to him every day," Murray says. "We make it work."
They discuss ball distribution, rebounding, transition offense and defense. They do not, Murray says, talk about how he needs to score more.
"I can go out there and take 25 shots," Murray says, "and if I do, I can score 45 to 50 points. But our team is too good to do that.
"I want the ball to be in the right place, and if that means feeding [Jokic] all night, then I'm good with it."
Roger's training has prepared Murray for powering through injuries, loneliness, homesickness, bubble hangovers, outsized expectations and frustration over lack of progress in a social justice movement that feels, at times, as though it never occurred. In those moments, he turns to kung fu and meditation, which has assisted him in tuning out the noise since he was a child.
"When things are at their worst," Murray says, "I'm at my best."
Indeed, just as it seemed as if Murray would suffer a seesaw season, he notched 22, 25 and 25-point efforts in mid-February before exploding for 50 points against Cleveland on Feb. 19. Two nights later, he torched Atlanta for 30. Since Feb. 12, Murray is averaging 28.5 points per game, almost 10 points more than his first 23 games of the season.
But Murray has set his sights on something else entirely this year. He wants to emerge as the best player at his position, and to do that, he plans to become a two-way player who will be as intimidating on the defensive end as he is knocking down those heart-stopping pull-up jumpers. It's an ambition, he confesses, that did not come to him on his own.
"Kobe," Murray says. "It was his idea."
IN THE SUMMER of 2019, Murray was home in Kitchener, training with his dad when he received a text from player development coach Phil Handy. The message was on behalf of Kobe Bryant to attend an invitation-only camp at the Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks, California. The guest list was headlined by Kawhi Leonard, fresh off a championship with the Toronto Raptors, along with Paul George and Kyrie Irving.
Murray had never met Bryant and was elated.
He happily dove into sessions on breaking down video, strength and conditioning, and on-court training. Bryant tutored Murray, whose lower-body strength is one of his most valuable assets, on how to exploit smaller guards in the post. Murray watched with interest as Bryant interacted with some of the biggest stars in the league and issued specific challenges on how they could raise their game to the next level.
He waited patiently before he approached the Lakers great and said, "Obviously I'm an offensive player. I know I have a lot to learn. So what is my challenge, Kobe?"
Without hesitation Bryant said, "Make an All-Defense team."
"Have you seen me play?" Murray said, incredulously.
"I have," Bryant responded. "If you want to be a complete player, one of the best, then make an All-Defense team. That's your challenge."
Murray left the camp with resolve. Kobe hugged him, urged him to "keep in touch," then assured him he'd be watching. Five months later, Bryant was gone. "That camp," Murray says, "was the first and last time I ever spoke to him."
"I finally sat him down and told him, 'Jamal, you need to take eight, ten 3s a game. It's not only hurting you, it's hurting us.'"Nuggets head coach Mike Malone
Ever since then, Murray has tried to prioritize defense, being more physical, vocal and proactive in assuming the proper stance. "I don't want to be the guy that you can attack every time down the floor, like Rodney Hood did," Murray says.
"Like Rodney Hood did" is referring to the 2019 Western Conference semifinals. The Portland Trail Blazers wing tortured Murray in the post for the series, including 25 points off the bench in Game 6.
"When I was young, I had games where I'd wind up with 10 steals," Murray says. "I was picking pockets, jumping passing lanes...but then I got to the league and it became, 'Man, just stay in front of people.'"
In his second season, 2017-18, Murray's ESPN Defensive Real Plus Minus rating of minus-2.39 placed him 493 out of 512 players rated. Malone assigned Gary Harris, a stout defender, to pick up the best opposing guards to hide Murray.
Last season, Murray posted a DRPM of plus-1.31, 74 out of 520 ranked players.
"I told Jamal, 'I've seen you show you can be a good defender, so when you don't do it, it pisses me off,'" Malone says. "It means you don't feel like doing it every night."
Murray has particularly focused on closing out shooters on the perimeter. He was averaging 6.8 closeouts a night at the break, per NBA.com, and holding those shooters to 28.8 percent. The league average is 37.7 percent.
This season, Murray's DRPM is plus-1.78 through the All-Star break, good for 5th among the league's point guards, and 33rd overall.
Murray says he senses teams are beginning to notice his defensive intensity. During a recent game against the Phoenix Suns, he met Chris Paul at half court and doggedly marked him up the floor. "It's just a little thing," Murray says, "but they finally had a guy come over and set a screen on me to get me off Paul."
Now, when he makes a good defensive stop, Murray shouts out "second team All-Defense!" He does it in memory of Kobe, and to put players on notice that he's serious about his commitment on that end of the floor.
"So much of defense is mental, and that's one of Jamal's strengths," says Morris. "It matters to him. And that's bad for the guys he's guarding."
Still, most casual NBA fans don't care nearly as much about his defense as their obsession with "Bubble Jamal." Murray has satisfied them too. In the final 13 games before the All-Star break, in which Denver went 9-4, Murray actually surpassed his bubble numbers in scoring (26.9 ppg), effective field goal percentage (65.6%) and 3-point percentage (47%).
"We're back," says Malone, "to playing with two stars."