When the Denver Nuggets decided this summer to give Jamal Murray a four-year, $208 million contract extension — the most money they could have paid him, over the maximum number of years, coming off the rockiest stretch of his eight-year career — plenty of people wondered why.
This is why:
It’s not just that Murray can go full Human Torch and turn in a performance like he did in Wednesday’s 132-121 win over the Trail Blazers: 55 points, a career high (and a new all-time record for points scored by a Canadian, topping Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s 54-point outburst last month), on 20-for-36 shooting.