Former Kentucky HC John Calipari "proud" as ex-Wildcats star Jamal Murray inks 4-year, $208 million contract with Nuggets
John Calipari, who coached at Kentucky for 15 years, has pushed several players to the NBA. The current Arkansas coach is never shy about praising his former players and their accomplishments and that continues to be the case with Jamal Murray.
On Saturday, Calipari expressed his pride in seeing Murray, one of his former standout players, sign a lucrative four year, $208 million contract renewal with the Denver Nuggets.
After ESPN's NBA insider, Adrian Wojnarowski shared the news of the 6-foot-4 guard signing the massive contract agreement on X/Twitter, John Calipari reposted the tweet.
"So proud of Jamal! Won a World Championship and what he did for us! He never thought he took a bad shot even left handed falling down LOL, he knows what I’m talking about!! So happy for Jamal!" John quoted.
The deal reportedly guarantees the Kentucky alum $244 million over the next five years. As reported by ESPN's Bobby Marks, Murray is set to earn $36 million this season. His salary will increase to $46.4 million in the following season. After that, he will earn $50.1 million in 2026-27, $53.8 million in 2027-28, and $57.5 million in the final year of his contract.
Murray had an amazing comeback after a year of absence due to an ACL tear. He played a big role alongside Jokic in leading the Nuggets to win the NBA championship.
John Calipari discusses his game plan for 2024-25 season
John Calipari, three-time National Coach of the Year, joined as the new Arkansas Razorbacks coach back in April.
However, when he arrived in Fayetteville to meet his new team, to his surprise, he found the locker room empty. Almost every player from Eric Musselman's team had decided to transfer to other programs or graduate. Thus, he had to build an entire roster from scratch.
"It was only a few short months ago, I walked in with no team, no staff and no schedule and now we're talking about ... how do we get them to get together but think bigger," Calipari told ESPN.
"You think big, but you work bigger. This is not being delusional. You're not dreaming dreams," he continued. "This is about what you're trying to accomplish for yourself. I'm trying to get them to think like kings, because kings think different."
After 13 players from the previous season left Arkansas, John Calipari signed six players from the transfer portal including DJ Wagner. Six high school athletes from the 2024 class also joined the Razorbacks ahead of the new season.