Will Jamal Murray sign a contract extension with the Denver Nuggets?

Will Jamal Murray sign a contract extension with the Denver Nuggets?

always great to talk to our next guest the uh host of the pickax roll podcast here on M Sports as well as the Nuggets lead writer Brian Blackburn joins us NBA Blackburn is the handle thanks for for joining us Ryan you have a piece out explaining why the Jamal Murray deal isn’t done yet even though the framework for the extension is there of four years 209 million but now we have the Olympics coming up it’s kind of interesting that this isn’t done yet given the circumstances for both the nuggets and for Murray yeah first of all thanks for having me on I I was curious about this because when sham shirani of the athletic reported that this was uh tending towards being done it was on June 27th when he actually reported that was 12 days ago uh I thought it was done I didn’t really seriously look into this until I didn’t see Denver announce anything on July 1st when extensions are supposed to be like finalized and made official it’s funny right before we went on here they just made their first two official signings blacko chanar and Don Holmes like that just happened uh within the last hour so I was very curious about that because usually in these situations when you’ve got a player who like Jamal Murray has has done a lot for the team has has been a very very important piece of what the nuggets have done to win a championship usually you would want to make that as public and as quick as possible and I was very curious as to why it didn’t happen that that way and and the more I dug the more I sort of uncover that yeah there there are still some gaps in in what the nuggets and Murray are trying to agree to some gaps or are the Nuggets waiting and maybe this overlaps to see how he comes through the Olympics whether he’s healthy or not yeah it’s it’s more nuanced than that I think I the more I dig the more the more I don’t necessarily like what I find uh there’s stuff that I still can’t say publicly about it and and wouldn’t want to say public about it but uh this is a this is a negotiation that it might be fine it this if if Murray is okay going into a contract extension year without secure money behind him heading into an Olympics where he’s gonna assumably play hard uh he may he may or may not play um it just seems very weird what’s what’s going on here and uh just from what what I understand about it the team and him had negotiations there were negotiations that they were talking through trying to figure out what was supposed to happen like sham chirania didn’t just come up with magically the fouryear $29 million Max extension yeah so like they they’ve talked about it the fact that they haven’t come to an agreement I believe has to do with the language of the deal um but I mean it’s it’s hard obviously you struggle to get people to conf to confirm that struggle to get people to say things of that nature but I think and I I respect the fact you’re not at Liberty to divulge everything but don’t those things Setter on his injury history I mean he’s missing 151 games since 20121 when tour oh undoubtedly nuggets want some protection there somehow do they not is is that a stumbling block not the only one but I’m just saying is that conceivably a stumbling block of course I I think that and the fact that he shot 40% in the playoffs I plain hurt perhaps even injured shot 40% the playoffs and about 30 31% from three-point range had a bad play Murray has always been he’s always been a playoff player and the fact that he did not show up in that big moment I think was a a watershed moment for him for the organization for everybody involved that look look it’s not all sunshine and rainbows if you’re not if you’re not great in the regular season but then you turn it on in the playoffs because it means you have to turn it on in the playoffs in order to do that and Murray list last year missed 23 games he missed I think 14 towards the beginning of the year with uh with a I think it was a hamstring strain and then that sort of set him back and a lot of people not necessarily very happy with the way that he has taken care of himself and the way that he has uh approached his training in his his physical regimen and things like that that’s that’s stuff that has become public um the nuggets have talked about that they want them to be the leader that they need him to be they want him to be the example that they need him to be and and to this point he hasn’t been on the floor enough to fully get a no questions Max contract extension and so when I saw the number from sham shiria I was kind of surprised I thought that they would be a little bit more hard and fast on the negotiation aspect of it because because of the sort of the gaps in his play and that he hasn’t been as available as you would want him to be so it’s interesting to see this evolve in real time and I think that there are like both sides should be like I think that there’s more to this than what has been even reported by me so far there’s got to be some motivation on both sides to get this done though you brought up in your piece over at mly sports.com a terrific piece you can check out right now more details on this the idea that the Nuggets May want to create language similar to what the Pelicans did with Zion Williamson protecting themselves a little bit Williamson of course has some uh some weight checkin uh parts of his contract something that Murray wouldn’t need but the idea that there’s certainly a number of games to hit to make sure that certain guarantees kick in I get that Murray certainly wouldn’t want that and would want to demand basically just the four years at the maximum but the question is with the injury history you do wonder how many teams for a guy who has yet to be an Allstar ever and whether that’s his fault they’re not as irrelevant but the idea that any other team would be dying to give him a max deal thinking he’s the final piece of the puzzle given the injury situation so what I find fascinating is the idea that they’re kind of kicking this down the road into the Olympics and it seems like for Murray that’s a Monumental risk because if you’re going to play hard for your country and presumably he would like to do that as Canada’s really really interesting team in the Olympics there with back hord of Murray and and Shay Guild’s Alexander but that seems like an risk knowing there’s no guaranteed money on the other side of next year knowing the Nuggets want to give it to him but they’d want to probably do it with a couple assurances there has to be a spot to meet in the middle do you believe that stubbornness might even potentially sink this thing or is it just a matter of waiting it out for both sides to find a middle ground it’s a good question I I think that Murray’s hotheaded he is he he wants the deal that he’s going to want and and that also extends to the supermax by the way which uh he turned down a previous deal in order to try to get the supermax extension which would be a a much larger number I’ve just done the calculations just a little bit ago it would be a like if if he qualified if he was an all NBA player next year it would be a fiveyear $314 million supermax extension so that’s $15 million more it is a lot of M and it is a lot at the same time is there anything that gives you after the last four seasons in which Murray has not been able to play uh the the number of games in fact in two of those cases wouldn’t even be able to get to the minimum number of games now to qualify for End season awards which all NBA would be won is there any reason to believe that Murray can make that leap right now it’s a good question and a couple of those years I know were affected by covid couple like one of those years he was uh like he was like injured and like that’s just like torn ACL sometimes like that’s that’s going to happen it’s hard to really control that um I don’t expect him to hold out for the super max extension I don’t think that that’s something that he wants I really don’t think that it’s something that either he or the team wants to go into a deal with an expiring contract because things get really complicated especially for a player like Jamal who like he wants to make the money he wants he wants to be known as the guy he wants to be like he’s in a comfortable spot right now with Nicole yic but he’s also like I mean he he has other motivations as well and would like to continue to grow with himself in this league so I I it’s going to be fascinating guys like I’m just I’m very curious to see how this evolves because I don’t think that it is just a hard and fast we are going to sign the contract after the Olympics because why if if the offer was out there right why would he sign it after the Olympics and not before when he has the security it just doesn’t make any sense and that part to me is fascinating because the risk T being undertaken there is all Murr all Murr yeah none of the nuggets there that’s Murray taking that risk almost entirely we also know that at the end of September Aaron Gordon is up for an extension that could be four years 143 million obviously that’s something that they have to take a look at as well and then the idea of perhaps adding more Talent we know that the the nuggets and and Russell Westbrook have been connected for a while now uh what’s the latest on the idea maybe with Gordon and potentially with Westbrook what is the hold up there what pieces need to be moved yeah I think the nuggets are willing to do a deal with Aaron Gordon I think they’re probably going to try to they’re not going to want to give him the max that they can give him but they are going to want to give him something to ensure that he is locked in at a number that they are excited about for the next few years with pton Watson upcoming with Don Holmes they just drafted with Michael Porter already under contract I wonder if it gives them a little bit of flexibility to not necessarily give an extensive contract and they might take the same approach that they took with kcp I I don’t know I am not privy to those conversations but I do think that Aaron is one of those players that he’s in the prime of his career unfortunately for power forwards that play the physical brand of basketball that he does as the athleticism wains the effectiveness and the impact often wains pretty soon after so it would be like it’s a dangerous one if they if they want to give him this maximum amount of money like the end of that contract could be tough and yet you want to keep him around for sure because he’s a very very important piece of this nuggets team uh on the Westbrook front I will say that they are trying to figure it out I’m not sure how strongly they are in control of the situation he’s still a member of the Los Angeles Clippers it’s their prerogative where they deal him where they decide to whether they decide to cut him whether they decide to trade him I’m not sure what that’s ultimately going to look like but I do know that the nuggets in Westbrook of mutual interest and that like Westbrook he would like to be a Denver Nugget that’s that’s what I’ll say okay um why would the Nuggets want Westbrook I I grant you that point on Westbrook wanting to be here as opposed to nuggets are better why would nuggets be some with someone who can’t dude and who is 35 years old and may not like playing behind Christian Brown yeah that there is something to that by the way where you have a young player like Christian Brown who is going to be a first year starter for the nuggets in our likelihood next year and you bring a guy in a guy like Russell Westbrook who is volatile to say the least he could probably get behind not playing as a starter in front of Paul George and Kawhi Leonard and uh James Harden and James Harden although they they did explore the idea of bringing teren man Off the Bench initially I think for that reason uh they decided hey we need some semblance of Defense in the starting lineup though the Clippers do so they decided yeah let’s uh let’s go this direction instead but it is fascinating I I think that Westbrook is a better fit for Denver than you do Sandy I think that he’s evolved a little bit in the latter stages of his career and especially in this time with the Clippers he’s learned how to play off ball a little bit more playing next to some of their ball handlers he’s not GNA dominate everything but I do think that there is still that inkling within him of like you know what I I think ivp I know it was a long time ago but he’s still a former MVP and he’ll always think of himself that way to a degree yeah and like I I have to imagine that if if Michael Malone gets his hands on on Russell Westbrook the message will be we will let Russ be Russ and I’m not sure if that’s such a great idea like you want you want to try to re that in a little bit especially for a team that has Championship aspirations that needs things in control the Nuggets need structure within their second unit if Russell Westbrook can provide that like he’s just the kind of the head of the snake there then maybe there’s something to it I I tend to doubt that though last one for you Ryan we’re talking to Ryan Blackburn to Mile High Sports those to the pickax roll podcast in the AL podcast check them out wherever you get those podcasts but uh through 20 2728 only two players are under contract Nicole yokich and Zeke Nagi Zeke Nagi appears to maybe have one of the most untradable contracts in the entire NBA and now that the Nuggets don’t have a draft pick they can trade until 2031 are they just accepting that they’re stuck with this that that they’re going to have to wear this Albatross of a contract or is there still an effort to try to find somebody who might take it off of them despite the fact they don’t have draft picks to sweeten the deal yeah I think I think they’re fine going into the season with him on the roster without the expectation that he plays that much uh I don’t know if they fully expected this to be such a bad contract where teams were a little bit apprehensive about taking on a 23y old because that’s what he is at the end of the day the problem is that he just hasn’t really shown a lot of skill development with Denver the shooting has really fallen off and I think his confidence is like it’s in a really tough place right now with the team and I don’t know how much Michael Malone actually trusts him to do the job that the Nuggets would ask him to do so if I’m Denver in this situation I’m trying to hold out for the right deal because he’s the fifth highest paid player on the team you wants him to be a matching salary in one of these trades where you add in another piece that can actually help the roster but whether that helps or not whether they can do that or not that remains to be seen I don’t think that a lot of teams want to take on four years of a contract for a player who like he fell out of Denver’s backup center rotation and that included DeAndre Jordan so like it’s that’s a tough place to be yeah obviously they Jordan and then they drafted Don Holmes to potentially take some of that away as well there doesn’t seem to be room for Nagi at least for the Denver Nuggets on the floor but they have to pay him as Brian said fifth highest paid player on the roster this year he is Ryan Blackburn make sure you check out all the terrific work he does at Mile High Sports go read that deal on the Jamal Murray contract it’s a terrific piece that explains it in much more detail than we were able to go into here so go check it out and check out the podcast while you’re at it too the pickax and roll and the alley podcast always good to talk to you it is going to be a fascinating offseason even though it feels like the nuggets are close to done how they stack up watching the rest of the NBA move in this salary cap apron Laden world will be fascinating thanks a lot for all the Insight Ryan thanks Sean thanks Andy I’d appreciate it Ryan Blackburn joining us and sometimes it’s about in in Michael Malone’s case it’s getting his guys right

Jamal Murray and the Denver Nuggets appear to be at a standstill as it pertains to a contract extension. Reports circulated in the last couple of weeks that Murray and the Nuggets were working to complete an extension, but it has been all crickets on that front since. When will Jamal Murray sign the extension? WILL he sign the extension, or could he play this season out? Ryan Blackburn joined Shawn Drotar and Sandy Clough to break down the situation between Murray and the Nuggets.

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