How Jamal Murray can live up to his max extension

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Jamal Murray sat at the podium following the Nuggets’ Game 5 win against the Spurs with the chance to take a victory lap.

Denver’s point guard had been taken to school by Derrick White for most of the first three games of the Nuggets’ first-round series, but Murray fired back in Game 4 with 24 points, six assists and just one turnover in a 117-103 Nuggets win. Two night later he took it to White again, tallying 23 points and seven assists as the Nuggets took a 3-2 series lead. Murray was asked at the podium following Denver’s win if the 1-on-1 matchup with White helped fuel his two-game surge.

“No,” Murray said. “I’m just worried about winning. He had a couple good games, I had couple bad games. But we’re getting wins right now and we’re just focused on winning, we’re focused on getting up and down the court, focused on guarding LaMarcus Aldridge, (DeMar) DeRozan without fouling. There’s more on our mind than that.”

It was a measured response from Murray and one that gave a sliver of insight into how much the Nuggets’ starting point guard, who’s gotten under a few players’ skins and ruffled a couple different fanbase’s feathers over his first three seasons in the league, came of age in his first playoff appearance. Between the lines he grew up too, averaging 21.3 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game, becoming the first player in his first three seasons in the NBA since Bradley Beal in 2015 to average at least 21 points, four rebounds and four assists in the playoffs.

But the Nuggets will demand much more from their franchise point guard going forward. Denver committed to paying Murray last weekend like the All-NBA talent and All-Star level player that those leading the Nuggets think he can become. The two sides agreed to a five-year, $170 million max extension that will kick in after the 2019-20 season and keep Murray in Denver for the foreseeable future. Shams Charania was first to report the deal.

The Nuggets didn’t waste any time once free agency began Sunday and moved aggressively to get a deal done with Murray. Denver had until the final day before the start of the 2019-20 regular season to agree to a rookie extension with the 22-year-old but clearly didn’t want to let the negotiations linger.

To live up to the max contract, which will likely pay him slightly more than the $28.5 million Nikola Jokic is slated to make in 2020-21, Murray’s consistency will be key. It’s the aspect of his game that Michael Malone has highlighted most often over the last few seasons as to where he wants to see improvement from his point guard.

“I think for Jamal it’s got to be how do I approach the game? How do I approach my offseason? How do I get better? How do I become a more consistent player?” Malone said after the season. “And these are conversations I’ve had with him already. So it’s not just 48 points one night then eight the next night. It’s a consistent approach so you know what you’re going to get from Jamal.”

Murray could take cues on consistency from his backcourt partner. Gary Harris had a frustrating yar that was filled with one injury after another until the playoffs where he was finally healthy. There, the two-guard flashed the two-way prowess and consistency that’s always been a staple of his game. In a secondary and some times tertiary offensive role behind Jokic, Murray and at times Paul Millsap, Harris averaged 14.2 points and played some of the best defense of his career checking the likes of Derrick White, Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum. The defensive end of the floor is where Murray will have to improve going forward as well to live up to his contract.

There’s reason to believe that he can. Murray is a gym rat, someone who last season would return from road trips and immediately drive to Pepsi Center to get in an impromptu shooting session. After an 8 of 23 night from the field in the Nuggets’ Game 1 loss to the Spurs where Murray missed an open elbow jumper that could have given Denver the win, he climbed the set of stairs that lead to the team’s upstairs practice court and got up shots while the rest of his teammates showered, dressed and left the arena.

There’s no one in the Nuggets’ locker room that takes losses harder than Murray either. He hates to see Denver on the wrong side of the scoreboard and isn’t afraid to shoulder the responsibility and blame in defeat. It’s one of his best qualities and at just 22.

Playing under a max contract in 2020 will come with even more responsibility. Murray will still won’t even be 24 by the time his new deal kicks in, which is still very young in NBA years, but with more of a financial commitment comes heightened expectations. On the court he’s steadily improved every season and will need to stay on that trajectory. Off it, Denver will demand more leadership from its franchise pillar in the locker room.

With how the Nuggets are paying Murray, they’re banking on him becoming their clear-cut second-best player for the next five seasons. If he stays on his current trajectory and carries his playoff performance forward, both on the hardwood and at the mic, he’ll ensure Denver’s money is well spent.