NUGGETS AGREE TO FOUR-YEAR MAX EXTENSION WITH STAR GUARD
The Nuggets and star guard Jamal Murray have agreed on a four-year, maximum-salary contract extension that will begin in 2025-26, agents Jeff Schwartz and Mike George tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
Assuming the salary cap increases by the maximum allowable 10% next summer, as projected, Murray’s four-year deal will be worth $207,845,568. Considering his $36,016,200 salary for the 2024-25 season, the 27-year-old is now on track to earn just shy of $244M over the next five seasons.
Murray is perhaps the most accomplished active player not to have made an All-Star team. He holds career averages of 17.5 points, 4.5 assists, and 3.7 rebounds in 30.7 minutes per game, with a .452/.380/.867 shooting line across 469 total appearances for the Nuggets, who drafted him with the seventh overall pick in 2016.
Murray has been even better (24.2 PPG, 6.2 APG, 4.9 RPG, .459/.389/.911 shooting) in 65 postseason contests and played a key role in helping Denver win the 2023 championship.
Last season, he matched his career high with 21.2 PPG. His 6.5 APG and .425 3PT% were also career bests, though he was limited to 59 games due to health issues.
Word broke in late June that Murray and the Nuggets were expected to finalize a four-year max extension. When more than two months passed without a deal, there was speculation that Denver may be rethinking that $52M-per-year investment, especially after the veteran guard struggled in the 2024 postseason and at the Paris Olympics as a member of the Canadian national team.
However, it seems the Nuggets’ commitment to Murray hasn’t wavered. His new contract will make him one of the NBA’s highest-paid guards and run through the 2028-29 season.
Murray, superstar center Nikola Jokic, and forward Michael Porter Jr. will earn a combined $140M for Denver in 2025-26, increasing to roughly $150M in 2026-27. Jokic and Porter are each eligible to reach unrestricted free agency in 2027 (Jokic holds a 2027-28 player option).
The Nuggets’ roster may get even more expensive if the team can work out a new contract with its other starting forward, Aaron Gordon. Gordon will earn $22.8M in 2024-25 and holds a player option worth the same amount for 2025-26. He’ll become extension-eligible later this month and can negotiate a new deal anytime this season.
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