Jamal Murray Takes Home A Deserved ESPY Award
This past NBA season was the ultimate affirmation for Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray.
He averaged 20.0 points and a career-high 6.2 assists a game while shooting 39.8 percent from 3-point range in the regular season, which helped the Nuggets finish with the best record in the Western Conference.
During the playoffs, he turned things up to 26.1 points and 7.1 assists a game, and he played a major role in the team winning their first-ever NBA championship.
Murray has had to overcome a good deal of adversity over the last couple of years to get to this point, and thus he won the ESPY award for Best Comeback Player.
The comeback that led to a championship ?
Jamal Murray wins the ESPY for Best Comeback Player! pic.twitter.com/woI3660mug
— ESPN (@espn) July 13, 2023
In 2020, Murray got onto the NBA radar when he had a number of huge games in the playoffs while helping Denver overcome two 3-1 series deficits.
They got to the Western Conference Finals, only to lose in five games to LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and the eventual world champion Los Angeles Lakers.
The following spring, Murray suffered a torn ACL that cost him the entire 2021-22 campaign, and there was a time when he thought the Nuggets may end up trading him.
His rehab was grueling, but he kept the end in mind.
Even though Murray put up 26.5 points per contest in the 2020 playoffs while shooting a very high percentage from the field, some dismissed that production, saying it only happened because that postseason took place inside the Walt Disney World Resort bubble.
The 2023 playoffs put those accusations to rest, and now Murray is on track to making his first All-Star team this coming season.