Nuggets Star Continues Struggles In The Olympics

(Photo by Jamie Schwaberow/Getty Images)

Many people consider Jamal Murray to be the spark plug for the Denver Nuggets, especially because of how he consistently raises his production in big games.

However, even though his native Canada advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2024 Summer Olympics, he hasn’t been playing well on the world stage this summer.

A tweet from ClutchPoints outlined how poorly Murray has been playing across the board in the Olympics.

Canada star Jamal Murray had a dreadful 2024 Olympics 😬

6 points per game
3 rebounds per game
3.8 assists per game
2.3 turnovers per game
20.5 minutes per game

9-of-31 FG (29%)
2-of-14 3PT (14.3%) pic.twitter.com/JTDeb2u5U0

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) August 6, 2024

On Monday, Canada lost its quarterfinal game 82-73 to France, and Murray shot just 3-of-13 from the field and scored only seven points.

It’s been odd to see Murray play so poorly when the memories of him blazing a hot trail through the NBA playoffs are so fresh in people’s memories.

In 2023, he put up 26.1 points and 7.1 assists a game as the Nuggets powered their way to the world championship, and it wasn’t the first time he was dynamite in the postseason.

In the 2024 playoffs, however, he came back down to earth as he averaged 20.6 points per game but shot 40.2 percent from the field and 31.5 percent from 3-point range.

Coming into the Olympics, many thought Canada was a very worthy challenger to the United States for the gold medal, but now, it has been eliminated from contention for the gold.

Murray has one year left on his NBA contract that will pay him $36 million, and he will thus become a free agent next summer.

If he plays poorly again, those contract talks could become very interesting in the coming months.