Michael Malone's take on Jamal Murray's contract makes sense, but might be misguided

Prior to the 2024-25 NBA season, the Denver Nuggets gave Jamal Murray a four-year extension worth $208 million. At the time that the deal was made, there was little for Nuggets fans to be upset about.

Murray proved he was good enough to be a No. 2 option on a championship team by playing that exact role when the Nuggets won it all in 2023, and was coming off arguably his best regular season as well. Unfortunately, things haven't really gone in his favor since.

For that reason alone, Nuggets head coach Michael Malone made sure to call out Murray critics the first chance Murray allowed him to after the star guard put up 45 points in an impressive road win against the Dallas Mavericks who did have Kyrie Irving playing.

Malone made sure to note that the Nuggets believed in him and paid him for a reason. He also looked back at 2023 and said that the Nuggets wouldn't have won the championship without him. While that's true and makes some sense, his defense of the Murray contract feels a little misguided.

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Michael Malone is focusing on the wrong things when defending Jamal Murray extension

Again, Murray was instrumental in Denver's championship run. While that's important to keep in mind, players aren't paid this kind of money for what they've done in the past. The Nuggets gave Murray that massive contract because of what they believe he could do for them in the next four seasons. They paid him because they believe he can be their No. 2 option on championship contenders for the foreseeable future.

That 45-point outburst was encouraging to see, and he even shot the ball well in Wednesday's loss to the Houston Rockets, but much of this season has not been what anyone expected especially once that contract was signed.

Murray, even after those two solid games in a row, is averaging 19.8 points on 45.1/39.2/85.5 splits to go along with 3.9 rebounds and 6.0 assists per game. Not only is he averaging his lowest point total since the 2019-20 season, but his efficiency is as low as it has been in over a half-decade, and his rebound and assist numbers have taken a slight dip as well. The Nuggets have rebounded nicely after a sluggish start to their season, but they're still the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference and feel like a team that's a tier below true championship contention.

Murray has always been a player who has saved his best for the playoffs, so hopefully, that will showcase itself this season as well. However, for Malone to try and justify Murray's contract based on what was done a couple of years ago rather than what Murray has done since actually signing it is off base.