From ACL tear to NBA title
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Jamal Murray was a rising star for the Denver Nuggets when he tore his left ACL during an April regular-season game against the Golden State Warriors. The injury happened during Murray's fifth season in the league and the first season when he averaged over 20 points a game.
Doubt would seep into his mind; he even wondered if he would get traded away. Jamal would miss the remainder of 2020-21 and the following season. He would have surgery to fix the ACL. It would be one and a half years before he would play another NBA game.
Murray would come back to play in the 2022-23 season and averaged 20 points and a career-high 6.2 assists per game. He would pair with Nikola Jokic to take the Nuggets to the number 1 seed in the Western Conference and, ultimately, the NBA championship.
Social Media
"I don't how many times I gotta prove myself for y'all to believe in my game..."
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) April 30, 2023
Jamal Murray responds to doubts about his comeback pic.twitter.com/DFYHpEwLz2
Quotes
When you’re hurt, you’re in the unknown. You don’t know what’s going to happen, if you’ll recover or what the results are going to be, I was very fearful of the unknown before, but now I embrace it.
Jamal Murray
I don't know how many times I have to prove myself for y'all to believe in my game, or believe in what I do, or my health, or whatever it is...I can keep doing it and keep trending and prove everybody wrong.
Jamal Murray
His first thought was, ‘Man, are you guys going to trade me?’ Really. That was his [first thought], ‘I’m damaged goods, are you going to trade me now?’
Michael Malone
References
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Nuggets' Jamal Murray Reflects on 'Full Circle' Journey from ACL Tear to NBA Champion
He had surgery two weeks later, kicking off a grueling recovery process. “It was so much pain. I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t roll over. It was throbbing. It was miserable,” he told NBA Countdown. “The first two months were really tough. You have all these doubts going through your head and the process is so slow that it’s just hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
People
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Jamal Murray injury timeline: How Nuggets guard went from ACL tear to NBA champion
October 19, 2022: Murray plays in his first regular season game since his ACL injury. In 26 minutes, he scores 12 points on 5-for-13 shooting from the field in a blowout loss to the Jazz.
Sporting News
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Nuggets’ Jamal Murray is back where he belongs: lighting it up on the NBA’s biggest stage
The physical rehabilitation from the April, 2021 ACL tear that robbed him of almost two years of basketball was difficult. The mental rehabilitation was almost as difficult, if not more. There were times, especially at the beginning of the process, where he wondered if he could or would get back to this level.
The Athletic
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Inside The Recovery Denver Nuggets Star Jamal Murray Didn't Let You See
But, before that, he defeated the toughest challenge of his career you've probably faced yourself: uncertainty.
Men's Health
