"He could’ve easily gotten $325 million" - Former Warriors guard calls Jamal Murray's $208M contract a bargain for Nuggets

Jamal Murray signed a four-year, $208 million extension, as per ESPN insider Adrian Wojnarowski on Saturday. Murray, who is in his final year of a five-year, $195.65 million rookie extension, is guaranteed $244 million over the next five years. With the deal, the Denver Nuggets secured the services of their two best players in Murray and Nikola Jokic until 2027 at least.

While $208 million over four years is not cheap even by today's bloated NBA market, former player Gilbert Arenas said the Nuggets got Jamal Murray for a bargain. In his latest appearance on the Gil’s Arena Podcast, the former Golden State Warriors guard said:

“When you think about his career, you're gonna be like, ‘He made no All-Star games. He was no All-NBA player.’ That's crazy, right? A guy that has so much and he does so much for the team and he don't get the accolades and the awards. So this is cheap for what they get, right?

“You have (a) guaranteed closer. He hits big shots. So, for him not to be (an) All-NBA player or All-Star. And you get him for this price because he could have easily been signing 305, 325, and no one was gonna say, ‘Oh, that's too much for him.’ 208? Hey, y'all stole one.”

While Murray may not have made an All-Star or All-NBA team yet, he was a key part of the Denver Nuggets’ championship run in 2022-23. After missing the previous season because of an ACL injury, Murray averaged 20.0 points and 6.2 assists in 2022-23.

He improved his game in the postseason, averaging 26.1 points, 7.1 rebounds, 5.7 rebounds and 1.5 steals, as the Nuggets won their first title.

Jamal Murray’s extension made him highest-paid non-All-Star NBA player ever

After Jamal Murray signed his most recent extension, it made him the highest paid player in NBA history to have never made the All-Star game. Murray now has guaranteed money worth $380.6 million. He overtook Tobias Harris at $303 million.

CJ McCollum at $281.1 million, OG Anunoby at $274.3 million and Cade Cunningham at $269.8 million round out the top five. While Murray’s run at the top is likely to be broken given the kind of extensions dished out in today’s NBA, he remains an integral part of the Denver Nuggets.

Murray and the team will look to get past last season’s disappointment and compete for the title in 2024-25.