Jamal Murray Injury Update: Latest on former champion's status against Atlanta Hawks (April 6)
The Denver Nuggets are making a huge push for the best record in the Western Conference and they need Jamal Murray to get the best possible playoff spot. There are five more games left for the Nuggets to play in the 2023–24 season and up next on their schedule is a matchup with the Atlanta Hawks on April 6 at the Ball Arena.
Currently tied with the Minnesota Timberwolves with a 53-24 record, the Nuggets don't own the tiebreaker, and that places them as the second-best team in the West. More so, the OKC Thunder is creeping behind them by just one game.
According to the recent Nuggets injury report, Jamal Murray is available to play on Saturday coming off ankle sprain injury. Nikola Jokic and Aaron Gordon are also marked as 'probable' to play since this matchup with the Hawks is on the tail end of back-to-back games.
What happened to Jamal Murray?
The ankle sprain of Jamal Murray was first reported on March 23 and that made him miss seven consecutive games. This is going to be the 24th game that the reigning NBA champion will miss.
The Denver Nuggets, without Murray in the last seven games, had four wins and three losses. Among the teams that they lost to are NBA Western Conference playoff-bound teams: the Phoenix Suns, Minnesota Timberwolves and Los Angeles Clippers.
Jamal Murray's stats vs Atlanta Hawks
This is going to be the second and last time that the Denver Nuggets and Atlanta Hawks face each other in the 2023–24 season.
The first encounter happened on December 11, 2023, with the Nuggets taking home the seven-point victory at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.
Jamal Murray led the squad in scoring with 29 points, nine rebounds, four assists, two blocks and one steal. He also shot well, going 12-of-15 from the field and 4-of-5 from behind the three-point line.
Nikola Jokic was not far behind with his 25 points, nine assists, eight rebounds, three steals and two blocks. Rookie Julian Strawther made his mark, tallying 22 points on 6-of-11 three-pointers coming off the bench.
Leading the Hawks was hot-shooting Bogdan Bogdanovic, who led all scorers with 40 points while going 10-of-17 beyond the three-point arc. Murray's position rival Trae Young provided the team with 19 points and nine assists.