Jamal Murray has built his playoff reputation the hard way: by saving his best for the games that matter most. Before the 2025-26 season, he had never averaged more than 21.4 points per game in the regular season, but his postseason scoring has lived on a different level, with a career average of 23.7 points per contest and two separate runs above 26.0.
This year, though, the heavier regular-season burden lined up with what was probably his roughest playoff stretch yet. Murray’s 2025-26 regular season was the most demanding of his career, and the results in the postseason fell off sharply.
He closed the regular season with 25.4 points, 7.1 assists, 4.4 rebounds, 0.9 steals, and 3.3 three-pointers made per game. His shooting numbers were excellent too: .483 from the field, .435 from deep, and .887 at the line, good for a .573 eFG% and a .622 true shooting percentage.
Then came the playoffs, where Murray shot just 35.7 percent overall and 26.3 percent from three as Denver dropped a first-round series in which the Minnesota Timberwolves lost multiple players to injuries.
It’s hard not to connect the dots. Murray took a career-high 18.1 field goal attempts per game, after never topping 16.7 before, and he matched his previous career high in usage rate.
He also went through a postseason that was even worse than the one he had the year before, when he shot 40.2 percent from the field and 31.5 percent from distance. Those were the least efficient playoffs of his career by a wide margin.
That’s the opening for DeMar DeRozan, the Nuggets’ polarizing signing who can shoulder some of the scoring and playmaking load. DeRozan may not have the same burst he once did, but he still produced in 2025-26, averaging 18.4 points and 4.1 assists while shooting 49.7 percent from the field.
He also gave Denver something it hasn’t had enough of beyond Murray and Nikola Jokic: reliable offense from the middle of the floor and downhill pressure. DeRozan hit 52.0 percent of his 13.2 drives per game and 47.6 percent of his midrange jumpers.
That matters because Denver simply didn’t have many players who attacked the rim with any frequency. In 2025-26, no Nuggets player other than Murray, Nikola Jokic, and Peyton Watson-who's no longer on the team -averaged more than 6.3 drives per game. DeRozan should help change that, easing the burden on Murray while making the offense less easy to read.
The three-point shot remains the obvious concern with DeRozan, but he still ranked in the 78th percentile in off-ball gravity in 2025-26, per Basketball Index.
And the biggest reason he can help Murray isn’t just that he can score. It’s how he creates those chances. DeRozan ranked in the 96th percentile in one on one shot making, one on one shot making efficiency, and on-ball gravity, and he was in the 87th percentile in passing creation volume.
In Other News...
Nikola Jokic Just Put A Surprising Matchup Problem On Notice
Wendell Carter Jr. has become one of those opposing bigs the Nuggets cannot quite treat like a routine night, even with Nikola Jokic at the center of everything they do. Carter has brought a mix of size, defensive versatility and enough scoring touch to make Denver work, and his track record against the Nuggets has shown up in the kind of game that can tilt a matchup long before the final minutes.
Carter has averaged 17 points per game against Denver, his best mark against any team, and he backed that up with a season-high 26 points and a career-high four 3-pointers in a December 2025 game against the Nuggets. Jokic has already taken notice of the challenge Carter presents, which only adds to the sense that this is a matchup Denver will keep circling whenever the schedule brings Orlando back around. [Read more 🡒]
Nuggets Have A Chance On A Former Lottery Pick Few Saw Coming
Atlantas roster squeeze created an opening for Devin Carter, and now Denver has at least a theoretical path to add a former lottery pick who drew interest for his defensive profile. Carter was waived by the Hawks because of roster constraints, and the next step is simple but important: he has to clear waivers before any team can move on him.
If he gets through that process, the Nuggets are positioned to take a hard look. Denver has both a 15th roster spot and a two-way spot open, which gives the front office some flexibility if it wants to add another guard-defender into the mix. Nothing is decided yet, but Carter is suddenly the kind of low-cost swing that can make a lot of sense for a team still fine-tuning its depth. [Read more 🡒]
Jokic Just Put Denvers Biggest Offensive Concern Back In Focus
Nikola Jokics latest interview offered a familiar reminder of how much Denvers offense still hinges on his ability to bend a defense. The Nuggets are at their most dangerous when Jokic can pull opposing centers away from the lane, and he said his outside shooting matters because it keeps defenders from crowding the paint and clogging the action around him.
The more interesting part was the way he framed the leagues biggest bodies as the real test. Jokic pointed to some of the most physical centers he sees as the ones that make life toughest, while also drawing a clear line around Victor Wembanyama and saying the Spurs star does not bother him in quite the same way. For Denver, it is another look at the same old equation: when Jokic is comfortable, the whole offense opens up, and when he is not, the Nuggets have to find answers somewhere else. [Read more 🡒]