Jamal Murray's minutes will be limited in Rising Stars Challenge

MILWAUKEE — While most of his teammates finalized plans for their All-Star break vacations in the minutes following the Denver Nuggets’ 134-123 over the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday, Jamal Murray stood at his locker and readied himself for another back-to-back.

“I leave tonight,” Murray said.

After Murray wrapped up his postgame media obligations, he boarded a private jet destined for Los Angeles for Friday night’s Rising Stars Challenge at 7 pm MT (TNT).

Murray won Most Valuable Player at last year’s exhibition with a 36-point effort and is back to defend his title. But he might not be on the floor long enough to garner MVP honors this time around.

“I think coach is putting me on a minute restriction, so I won’t be on the court for a while tomorrow,” Murray said. “So hopefully, I can get them in there.”

Murray played 36 minutes against the Bucks. It was also Murray’s fourth game in seven nights. Murray is averaging 30.4 minutes per game this season — a nine-minute jump from last year.

Murray will be joined on Team World at the Rising Stars Challenge by Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid, Dario Saric, Lauri Markkanen, Domantas Sabonis, Dillon Brooks, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Buddy Hield and Frank Ntilikina.

“Same as tonight,” Murray said after the win over Milwaukee about how he’ll approach the game. “Just go out there and do what I do best. Shoot the rock. Hopefully, I score 20 in the quarter again.”

Murray said the Monday after All-Star break is his first free day in a while, but by that time he’ll be en route back to Denver preparing for the Nuggets’ final 24 games of the regular season.