The worst-case scenario for Denver Nuggets standout Jamal Murray appears to have come true. According to a report by Shams Charania of The Athletic, Murray, who hurt his knee in the fourth quarter of Monday night’s loss to the Golden State Warriors and needed to be helped off the floor as he made his way to the locker room, tore his ACL.
Nuggets star guard Jamal Murray has a torn ACL in his left knee, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 13, 2021
Soon after, the team announced the news, saying that the standout young guard will be out “indefinitely.”
Jamal Murray has been diagnosed with a torn anterior cruciate ligament of the left knee.
He will be out indefinitely.https://t.co/oXw32TeqJz
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) April 13, 2021
After exploding in the NBA’s Orlando Bubble and being a major reason why the team was able to overcome back-to-back 3-1 deficits in the first two rounds of the postseason, Murray was in the midst of a career season for the Nuggets, averaging 21.2 points, 4.8 assists, four rebounds, and 1.3 steals in 35.5 minutes per game while connecting on 47.7 percent of his shots from the field and 40.8 percent of his triples.
While an injury of this magnitude is always a tough pill to swallow, this comes at a particularly tough time for Denver, which had been riding high since acquiring Aaron Gordon at the trade deadline and looked set to make a serious run in the Western Conference. The team is 34-20 on the year, good for fourth place in the West. Beyond this NBA season, Murray was one of the players that helped generate some of the excitement around the Canadian national team ahead of this summer’s Olympics.