Jamal Murray, Denver Nuggets
The 2020 NBA playoffs were a roller coaster ride, and this holds especially true for the Denver Nuggets.
They achieved the seemingly impossible by becoming the first team in NBA history to overcome two 3-1 deficits in the same postseason; first against the resilient Utah Jazz, then against the heavily favored LA Clippers. And it was thanks in no small part to the mind-blowing performance of Jamal Murray.
The Canadian product erupted for a 31.6 point-per-game average in the first round against Utah, including a 50-point outing in Game 6 to force a decisive Game 7. The conference semifinals looked much bleaker for Denver, as the Clippers thoroughly outmatched them through the first four games of the series before the Nuggets hit the right gear and steamrolled to their first Western Conference Finals since 2009, with Murray dropping 40 points in the final matchup.
The NBA bubble was admittedly a very small sample size. It will be hard for Murray to replicate that production over the course of an entire season, but he has proven himself to be one of the league’s premier young guards and a competitor who is unafraid of the moment. Expect the Nuggets to have full confidence in Murray moving forward, and at the young age of 23, he, along with star teammate Nikola Jokic, look to establish a perennial playoff threat in the Mile High City.