The Denver Nuggets secured the fourth seed in the Western Conference this season, and were headed into the playoffs after firing their longtime head coach Mike Malone at the very end of the 2024-25 regular season. David Adelman took over the head coaching job right around the start of the playoffs, and they faced the Los Angeles Clippers, who they knocked off in seven games. The Nuggets advanced to take on, arguably, the best team this season in Oklahoma City Thunder. The Nuggets went toe-to-toe against the Thunder, but after they survived in Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals, they were humiliated in Game 7 at OKC, as the final score was 125-93.
The Thunder appeared to be the far greater team in the most crucial game of the season, and this is the second straight year that the Nuggets have been eliminated in Game 7 at the second round of the Western Conference semifinals. The game was close in the first quarter and the Nuggets were up by double digits. However, as soon as Nikola Jokic sat down, the Thunder ripped off a 13-0 run, which helped them comeback in the game and ultimately dominate.
One thing is certainly clear for the Nuggets, Nikola Jokic needs help. And out of everyone of his teammates, his most trusted ally is his point guard, Jamal Murray. However, in Game 7, Murray had one of the worst performances of his NBA career and this has led to an NBA analyst suggesting the Nuggets to part ways with Murray. Let’s find out more.
Collin Cowherd said, “I think you need to examine Jamal Murray. I just think in too many big games, he has injuries. I think it’s time to shuffle the deck. If it was me, I would keep Gordon, Braun, Jokic obviously. I’d move anything else.”
We believe that trading Jamal Murray is not the answer for the Denver Nuggets as they have a lot of other flaws that are much more concerning that Murray’s performance in Game 7. However, Murray had a bad stretch of games against Thunder in this series, as he wasn’t consistent in the games that he played. While he did score above 20 points four times against the Thunder in this series, his efficiency from the field was less than ideal. It also did not help that Murray had caught a flew, and even though he played through it and was spectacular in Game 6, it ultimately might have caught up to him in Game 7 as he only had 13 points in 6-16 shooting from the field.
The player that has the biggest target on his back is Michael Porter Jr. who was horrendous the entire playoffs. He averaged 9.1 points, 39.2 percent from the field, and 34.3 percent from beyond the arc. If the Nuggets are to trade a player, Porter would most likely be the bigger target than Murray, but we cannot be certain. The Nuggets’ also need to get a lot better rotational players, as they provided little to no help in this 7 game series against the Thunder.
Nikola Jokic believes that the Nuggets cannot win a championship with the current roster that they have, as he stated on the postgame press conference. And this might be a sign that Jokic wants the organization to makes changes and make changes soon. Next season we believe that the Nuggets’ roster will not look the same, and look for the Nuggets to be aggressive in acquiring 3&D role players, and some additional big men, apart from Jokic, in their lineup.
Also Read: NBA Insider Updates Nico Harrison’s Job Security Amid Mavericks’ Turmoil
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