The regular season schedule is nearing its halfway point, and many big-name teams are not performing up to expectations. Two typical examples in the West are the Warriors and the Suns. Durant of the Suns is working hard, Booker is struggling, and Beal has become unpopular. The three giants' positions conflict with each other, and they end up with nothing after standing alone. Curry, with his league-leading salary of $55.76 million, has seen a significant decline in his team's dominance. In the games he played, the Warriors had a record of only 14 wins and 16 losses, and many of these losses were due to Curry's turnovers or blind shooting attempts. Curry relies heavily on the system, but Kerr has yet to find a perfect rotation, causing the Warriors to plummet. Including the 76ers, Embiid plays intermittently, and George has regressed into a blue-collar role, disappointing fans with their performance.
Many teams have spent a lot of money without achieving the expected results. This mainly depends on whether the high-salaried stars can contribute energy. There is such an awkward team in the West that started the season with a record of 21 wins and 15 losses, barely ranking fourth, but the entire team is seething with undercurrents. They are the Nuggets. As the core of the team, Jokic averaged 31.5 points (first in the league) + 13 rebounds (third in the league) + 9.7 assists (second in the league) + 1.7 steals (sixth in the league) + a 47.3% three-point shooting percentage (first in the league) this season, doing everything to the best of his ability. However, it is obvious that the Nuggets have been on a downward spiral since winning the championship in 2023. Who is the problem? First, we need to rule out Westbrook.
We previously discussed that when Westbrook started this season, the Nuggets had a record of 11 wins and 4 losses, with a win rate of 73% (second only to the Cavaliers and Thunder in the entire league). Additionally, Westbrook averaged 14.3 points, 6.4 rebounds, 8.2 assists, and 2.1 steals as a starter. His assists ranked sixth in the league, and his steals ranked second. He could even limit the three-point shooting percentage of his opponents to 29.4%. Although the aging Westbrook can no longer fly or dodge, he is paid a minimum salary of $3.3 million but can play both offense and defense. In 624 minutes on the court with Jokic, they assisted each other 120 times, becoming the most tacit duo in the league and the best helper for Jokic. On the offensive end, he organizes and connects the team, and on the defensive end, he does the dirty work at the 4th position. Malone and Jokic both say that Westbrook is the absolute spiritual leader of this team.
What about Murray, the team's former second-in-command? During the offseason, Murray renewed his contract with the Nuggets for four years at 208million,plushiscurrentseasonsalaryof36 million, totaling nearly $250 million. This season, he averaged 19.4 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 6.3 assists. Previously, Murray became the only unstable factor in the Nuggets lineup: he criticized Westbrook, believing that he should not go home to see his family during the Los Angeles road trip; Gordon organized the players on the court to cheer each other up, but Murray watched indifferently. And this season's average of 19 points has a lot of water content. The two shooting percentages of 43% + 37% look good, but Murray's effective shooting percentage of 50.3% ranks 237th in the league, and his efficiency value is even worse than Westbrook! Defensively, he was constantly targeted and once caused Jokic's dissatisfaction.
On the offensive end, some of Murray's head-down solo choices even angered the accompanying reporters! According to reporter Lamberti's original words: Murray is obviously holding the ball too much, leaving his teammates staring blankly, not knowing where to run or how to cooperate with Murray. As the third scoring point of the Nuggets, Porter averages 19 points as well, but with shooting percentages of 52% + 42%, his efficiency value is much higher than Murray's. Moreover, in terms of win contribution value, Jokic ranks first within the Nuggets, followed by Porter, then Brian, and Murray is only fourth! In terms of real victory contribution value, he cannot match Westbrook, who continuously contributes energy to the team and never gives up. Including after some losses, Murray took the initiative to admit: I just couldn't make shots, the responsibility is on me.
So why is it Porter who is listed on the trading shelf instead of Murray? Murray has gradually become the fourth best player on the team, inferior to Jokic in terms of data and efficiency; and inferior to Westbrook and Porter in terms of contribution. To put it bluntly, it's because Murray's contract is too big to be sent away! The new contract takes effect from the 25-26 season, with salaries of 46.4million+50.1 million + 53.8million+57.5 million respectively. He will soon turn 28 years old, has never been an All-Star in his career, and when the Nuggets won the championship in 2023, Murray averaged 26 points and 7 assists, which is indeed gorgeous data, but he has never been a qualified core. For the sake of statistics and respect, he disregards the team, which is very similar to LaVine, who has been on the Bulls' trading shelf for a year.
Based on the average of 20 points and 6 assists per game over the past three seasons, the Nuggets management, due to their cowardice, did not dare to bargain and directly met Murray's supermax salary requirements, but this also delayed Jokic's prime career period. It can be confirmed that it will be difficult for the Nuggets to send Murray away. His performance is one aspect, but his attitude is the most important. If the Nuggets continue to achieve nothing this season, it will be Jokic who should leave. Why should the Nuggets give a supermax salary to a player averaging less than 20 points and expect to win another championship?
