N/P: Jamal Murray diagnosed with left torn ACL

ESPN just reported it. Nasty injury last night in Golden State. Major blow to Nuggets. Prayers for him during this process of surgery and recovery.

That's horrific. Nuggets will still make the playoffs given their current rating and how elite Jokic has been this year but their aspirations of a finals run probably just died with that as well.

Hope he recovers quickly and as well and has a Durant-style comeback in terms of getting back to his old self. Horrible injury.

Crushing to see.

Nuggets star guard Jamal Murray has a torn ACL in his left knee, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 13, 2021

Confirmation tweet if anyone needed it

They probably would have traded for Lonzo had it happened a few weeks ago

Was hoping it was a meniscus and not an ACL/MCL when I saw it happen, but the agony he was in was telling...

Terrible bummer obviously for Jamal personally, and I was hoping Denver and Utah together would give the Lakers and Clippers a run for their money in the playoffs. The path to the finals in the west just got easier for everyone except Denver.

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Originally Posted by SoCal4Pels

Was hoping it was a meniscus and not an ACL/MCL when I saw it happen, but the agony he was in was telling...

Terrible bummer obviously for Jamal personally, and I was hoping Denver and Utah together would give the Lakers and Clippers a run for their money in the playoffs. The path to the finals in the west just got easier for everyone except Denver.

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It's a huge shame for Denver because with Jokic seemingly coming into the peak of his powers, these next few years are poised to be their major window of contention. If Murray is out for this year's playoffs, and then potentially a big chunk or all of next year (Klay's injury was ACL and he missed basically two seasons) that essentially sinks those two years heavily, and when he does come back who knows if he's ever the same?

And then they have MPJ and Aaron Gordon both due getting paid soon. They're going to have a huge amount of cash on the books, very little flexibility, and obviously (not his fault) Murray giving them nothing for all that money. They really went all in this year and this has just totally smashed that to pieces, and dashed away probably 3 years of [attempted] Finals runs for them.

Awful stuff.

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

It's a huge shame for Denver because with Jokic seemingly coming into the peak of his powers, these next few years are poised to be their major window of contention. If Murray is out for this year's playoffs, and then potentially a big chunk or all of next year (Klay's injury was ACL and he missed basically two seasons) that essentially sinks those two years heavily, and when he does come back who knows if he's ever the same?

And then they have MPJ and Aaron Gordon both due getting paid soon. They're going to have a huge amount of cash on the books, very little flexibility, and obviously (not his fault) Murray giving them nothing for all that money. They really went all in this year and this has just totally smashed that to pieces, and dashed away probably 3 years of [attempted] Finals runs for them.

Awful stuff.

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I think I heard somewhere today that Jokic is 26, Murray 24, MPJ 22 and Gordon is 25. Best laid plans can disappear in a heartbeat. Just like when Cousins was injured after a FT. Who knows what we may have done in the playoffs that year.

What horrifies me is the worst may yet still be to come

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Originally Posted by RobertM320

I think I heard somewhere today that Jokic is 26, Murray 24, MPJ 22 and Gordon is 25. Best laid plans can disappear in a heartbeat. Just like when Cousins was injured after a FT. Who knows what we may have done in the playoffs that year.

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This is one of the reasons that NBA championships always take a bit of luck. Always. Because you're always only one bad landing or one twisted ankle or hell, even outside of a game you're only one misstep on a set of stairs or one wet floor without a sign from an injury that destroys your chances.

Build your roster so that you have tons of young players who all fit the ''window'', all coming into their primes together, get your generational superstar (Jokic), get your dynamic scoring guard (Murray), get a bunch of wings with some versatile skills (MPJ, Gordon), get your reliable backup point to run the bench (Morris), have them all under contract or with their rights right through their primes, everything is set up for you to make serious runs deep into the playoffs and then... this. Totally outside of the team's control, nobody's fault, but that's it ruined.

Would the Nuggets have won a chip in the next few years if Murray had stayed healthy, and they could have kept him there along with Jokic, MPJ, Gordon, Morris, etc? Maybe, maybe not, but now we'll never know.