Jamal Murray #27 of the Denver Nuggets celebrates after a 94-89 victory against the Miami Heat in Game Five of the 2023 NBA Finals to win the NBA Championship at Ball Arena on June 12, 2023 in Denver, Colorado. –Justin Edmonds/Getty Images/AFP
MANILA, Philippines—Jamal Murray deemed himself as “damaged goods” and wondered if he would be traded by the Denver Nuggets after he went down with an ACL injury in April 2021.
Murray missed the rest of the NBA 2020-21 season with a tear in his left knee as well as the next after undergoing surgery.
Two years later on Tuesday, Murray was an NBA champion.
"Everybody on this floor believed in me. …believed in me to get back to myself."
It's been a journey for Jamal Murray ❤️ pic.twitter.com/N76LVkgBJ1
— NBA TV (@NBATV) June 13, 2023
“It’s just an amazing feeling, you know?” an emotional Murray told ABC as he drew deafening applause from the home crowd at Ball Arena in Denver after the Nuggets closed out the hard -fighting Miami Heat in Game 5 of the NBA Finals.
“Blood, sweat and tears to get back to this point. Everybody on my team in here, everybody on the floor believed in me. Believed in me to get back to myself. We proved a lot of doubters wrong.”
The 26-year-old guard from Ontario, Canada came back stronger than ever after missing Denver’s last two stints in the NBA playoffs as he and Serbian star Nikola Jokic formed a deadly duo for the Nuggets.
Murray and Jokic became the first teammate to average 25-plus points, 5-plus rebounds and 5-plus assists in an entire NBA postseason.
Jamal Murray's top #NBAFinals plays!
Murray averages 21.4 PPG, 6.2 RPG, and 10 APG in the final round as Denver wins its first NBA Championship. pic.twitter.com/sZOhHeWiKw
— NBA (@NBA) June 13, 2023
Murray flourished in his first Finals run, where he averaged 21.4 points, 6.2 rebounds and 10 assists in five games against the Miami Heat.
He posted a triple-double in Game 3, collecting 34 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.