Which NBA players face the most pressure in 2020-21?

4. Jamal Murray

Jamal Murray’s playoff breakouts date back two years now. He came onto the national stage in the Denver Nuggets’ inaugural run of the Nikola Jokic era in 2019, posting 21.3 points a night to get within a game of the conference finals.

The following year, Murray came back an impressive encore of 26.5 points a night, 0.3 free-throw percentage points away from producing a 50/40/90 shooting line in the playoffs. He became a legitimate star alongside his All-NBA teammate and Denver was able to break through to its first conference finals since 2009.

His postseason performances were in stark contrast to good but not great regular season averages of roughly 18 points and just under five assists a game. The Nuggets still managed to claim the third seed in 2020, but there’s a certain frustration to seeing Murray flip the proverbial switch only when the playoff bracket is locked instead of trying to influence it in Denver’s favor.

Homecourt was irrelevant in the bubble, a likely factor in Denver’s consecutive 3-1 comebacks. Even though they’ll open the season without fans, the comfort of the familiar confines of Ball Arena could swing a playoff matchup in the Nuggets’ favor.

We know what Jokic will bring to help earn that positioning and Murray showed us what his contributions could look like. As the true stars of the game do and to make up for the absence of Jerami Grant, Murray just has to bring it with more consistency and reap the benefits that follow.