BY EMMANUEL OGBONNA
The Denver Nuggets’ frustrations deepened Monday night when star point guard Jamal Murray sprained his right ankle during a 131–121 loss to the Dallas Mavericks, raising immediate questions about the team’s health, depth, and ability to stabilize a season increasingly marked by injuries.
Murray went down early in the third quarter after landing awkwardly while fighting over a screen. He limped to the locker room but later returned to finish the period, distributing the ball effectively despite visible discomfort. When the fourth quarter began, however, he was nowhere on the bench. The team soon confirmed he would not return, prompting concern throughout Ball Arena.
Head coach David Adelman said Murray will undergo further evaluation Tuesday. His tone reflected both worry and admiration for his guard’s resolve.
“It’s a huge absence, obviously, offensively,” Adelman said. “Jamal’s incredibly tough. If he takes himself out of the game because of pain, you know it’s serious. We’ll hope for good news and hope he can be available for the next one.”
Murray entered the night averaging a career-best 24 points per game, but he finished with 10 points and nine assists—numbers that still showcased his value in orchestrating Denver’s trademark two-man actions with Nikola Jokic. Without him on the floor late, the Nuggets’ offense lost its rhythm and spacing.
“It definitely hit us hard,” said forward Spencer Jones, who scored a career-high 28 points and tried to pick up the slack. “Everybody knows what Jamal and Nikola can do together in the pick-and-roll. We struggled to recreate that.”
Murray’s injury comes with an unsettling backdrop. He previously tore his left ACL in 2021, a setback that sidelined him for more than a year. When he returned, he re-established himself as one of the league’s elite postseason performers, averaging 26.1 points and 7.1 assists during Denver’s 2023 championship run. His recent play suggested he was entering another peak stretch—until Monday night’s sprain revived old anxieties.
If Murray misses time, he will join two other starters already sidelined: Aaron Gordon, out indefinitely with a right hamstring strain, and Christian Braun, recovering from a left ankle sprain suffered in mid-November.
Gordon, one of Denver’s most versatile defenders and a key transition player, is not expected to return until late December or early January after being injured Nov. 21 in Houston. Braun, another strong perimeter defender, sprained his ankle Nov. 12 against the Clippers and was projected to miss at least six weeks.
Their absences have been felt in almost every phase of the game. Denver’s perimeter defense has wavered, rotations have looked sluggish, and opponents have increasingly found comfort attacking mismatches.
Adelman acknowledged the roster challenges but refused to use injuries as an excuse for the Nuggets’ four consecutive home losses.
“I’m not going to sit here every night and talk about who’s out,” he said. “We still have enough here to be more consistent defensively. That part has to improve regardless of the lineup.”
Denver now faces a precarious stretch of games without clarity on when its full starting unit will be healthy again. With Murray’s status uncertain, Jokic shouldered even more of the playmaking load while younger players were pressed into expanded roles.
The Nuggets know that their championship identity is built on continuity and chemistry—qualities that are impossible to maintain when key contributors keep disappearing from the rotation. As they await Murray’s evaluation, the franchise must brace for the possibility of navigating several more weeks with a depleted core.
For now, Denver’s hopes hinge on a simple outcome: that the latest injury to their star guard is a temporary scare rather than the beginning of another long chapter on the sideline.
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