Jamal Murray is the kind of player a team spends years trying to find, and the Nuggets already have him.
That’s why the idea of using him as a salary-cap escape hatch feels backward, even with Denver staring at a messy cap sheet for the next three years. ESPN’s latest three-year power rankings floated the possibility anyway, with Ben Golliver offering a “bold prediction” that the Nuggets could “backslide further” and head down a road similar to the Milwaukee Bucks, who have lost not only Giannis Antetokounmpo’s running mates but, in Golliver’s framing, the whole supporting cast around their franchise cornerstone.
But Denver splitting up Nikola Jokic and Murray would be a mistake, and Jokic is the one name that isn’t going anywhere. That leaves Murray, and if the Nuggets weren’t willing to trade him this offseason, there’s no real reason to think that changes soon.
They shouldn’t do it now, either. Murray is 29, firmly in his prime, and his stock is at its highest after his first All-Star selection and first All-NBA Third Team nod.
Waiting only risks seeing that value slip.
Yes, the money gets uncomfortable. It already has for the Boston Celtics, who broke up Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum this offseason after nine years together because their own max-contract squeeze became too much to manage. Denver’s problem is the same basic one: two stars, both paid like stars, and a front office forced to keep juggling the rest of the roster around them.
Even so, the Nuggets do have some paths to ease the pressure later. The cap picture gets a little cleaner in 2027-28, when they could make moves like declining the team option on DaRon Holmes II and waiving and stretching Zeke Nnaji’s final year to create room for more mid-level help.
Then there’s 2028-29, when expansion drafts come into play. If Christian Braun hasn’t turned things around by then, Denver could let the $25 million he would be owed for that season go in the expansion draft.
That may help around the edges, but it doesn’t change the main point: Murray is too important to treat like a cap casualty.
The offense alone makes that clear. Murray may not have been “playoff Murray” lately, but his regular-season production keeps climbing.
He just put together a career year with 25.4 points per game, which ranked 12th in the NBA, and 7.1 assists, good for 10th. He also posted career bests in field-goal percentage and 3-point percentage, set the Nuggets’ franchise record with 245 made threes, and finished second in Clutch Player of the Year voting.
That’s not the profile of a player you replace with draft picks and hope for the best.
The smarter move is to lighten his workload late in the season and keep him fresh for the playoffs. With Jokic and Murray on the floor together, Denver is going to be a playoff team. If the front office can add a little more savvy and a little more luck around them, the Nuggets still have the ingredients for another run built around that peanut butter-and-jelly pairing.
In Other News...
Julian Strawther Could Decide How Far Denvers New-Look Bench Goes
The Nuggets reshaped second unit will be one of the bigger subplots of their season, and Julian Strawther sits right in the middle of it. Denver lost key bench pieces over the offseason and tried to reload with additions like DeMar DeRozan and Marvin Bagley, but the team still needs young holdovers to help steady the group around the stars. Strawther has the kind of shot-making and growth potential that makes him easy to circle when looking for where the bench offense might come from.
What makes Strawther especially interesting is how thin the guard depth looks behind the top options. He is expected to take on a larger role this season, with the possibility of helping absorb the minutes and scoring left behind by Tim Hardaway Jr. If that jump comes, it could go a long way toward determining how effective Denvers new-look reserves really are, and how much flexibility the Nuggets have when the rotation tightens later on. [Read more 🡒]
Cam Whitmore Arrives With One Big Chance To Help Denver
Cam Whitmore is getting another shot at sticking in the league, and Denver is giving him a low-risk place to prove he belongs. The former first-round pick has already spent time with Houston and Washington, but he still has not locked down a long-term NBA role, which is why the Nuggets see a player with both upside and urgency attached to this next stop.
The fit matters because a two-way deal gives Denver flexibility while Whitmore tries to turn raw talent into a regular rotation case. For Whitmore, the challenge is straightforward but not easy: earn enough trust to matter on a team that will be watching closely, and do it in a setting where every practice, stint and matchup carries extra weight. [Read more 🡒]
DeMar DeRozan Gives Nuggets Bench A New Tradeoff To Watch
DeMar DeRozans arrival gives the Nuggets a different kind of look off the bench after Bruce Brown moved on to the Knicks in free agency. Denver is betting that the six-time All-Star can bring more offensive versatility to a second unit that has leaned on Browns energy and familiarity, even if the swap comes with a clear tradeoff in how the group is built.
The defensive side of the ledger is where the conversation gets interesting. Brown and DeRozan both come with shaky numbers in that area, but the Nuggets appear willing to accept that risk if it means getting a cleaner scoring option who can create in more ways. For a team trying to keep its depth intact while staying dangerous, the question is whether the upgrade on one end is worth whatever small step back comes with the other. [Read more 🡒]