Jamal Murray, the point guard for the Denver Nuggets, wants to be the best. That’s all well and good, and it’s definitely what supporters in Denver should expect from their second-best player, after center Nikola Jokić, who is set to win three MVP awards. Murray, 27, however, hopes that this is only the beginning of his story.
In an updated interview with Fox Sports’ Melissa Rohlin, Murray stated he aspires to be the…
“best player ever.” He noted that having such a lofty goal is key to being as good as he already is. “Of course,” Murray told Rohlin. “And I strive to be the greatest. I want to be the best player ever. Obviously, if you don’t shoot high, then you’re never going to get there. I think (Nikola) Jokić is the greatest player right now. And I try to be a close second.”
Opinion:
Murray already believes that Jokic is the best player of all time, Above legends like LeBron James, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls, the Boston Celtics center Bill Russell, and Los Angeles Lakers greats? There is no denying Jokić’s exceptional quality. He’s also likely to rank among the top 40 players in league history, if not higher. The greatest ever, though? Already?
The defending NBA champions, Denver, appear to be the overwhelming favorites to win it all this season. With a record of 47–20, the team has reclaimed the top spot in the Western Conference after spending the entire season in the top four. Murray is the team’s backup floor general, and behind Jokić, he’s easily the league’s best passing big man but to be the best ever, you’ve got to start with being the de facto best player on your own title-winning team.
The 6’4″ player from Kentucky is averaging 6.6 assists, 4.1 rebounds, 0.9 steals, 0.6 blocks, and 20.9 points per game on a shooting split of.479/.416/.841. His absence from 16 games due to various ailments cost him the opportunity to be considered for the first All-Star and/or All-NBA, and he is now in danger of missing the latter (the cut-off for All-NBA consideration is currently 65 played contests out of 82, but 62 with some injury allowances).
Murray is a fantastic player who deserves more regular season honors than he has received so far. However, at this point in his career, he’s definitely too far behind to have much of a chance at becoming the greatest of all time.
Getting into the Hall of Fame, though, is probably doable. Murray has a very good chance of hearing his name called in Springfield one day as the second-best player on a team that wins multiple titles, especially if he makes at least three All-Star appearances (preferably more, but we’re talking about theoretical minimum requirements here). We’ll find out in time.