Jamal Murray has been one of the most underrated guards in the NBA over the last five years, as the 28-year-old NBA Champion made it to his first All-Star Game this season after years of excelling as the Denver Nuggets‘ point guard.
While Murray struggled to break through as a star in the eyes of the larger NBA audience, he’s been extremely highly rated by Los Angeles Lakers fans for years. There’s been a running joke among Lakers fans that Murray used to go from not being an All-Star to being a superstar against the Lakers.
After dropping 28 points (8-17 FG) and seven assists in a 120-113 win over the Lakers last night, Murray openly addressed the speculation around him always playing better against the Lakers after a question from Miami Heat legend Udonis Haslem on the Prime Studio post-game show.
Over the last four seasons, Jamal Murray has averaged 22.0 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 6.5 assists in the regular season. Over this span, he averaged 23.3 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 6.9 assists in 12 regular-season games against the Lakers. The disparity has been more apparent this season, as Murray’s season averages of 25.7 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 7.3 assists are further away from the 28.0 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 9.0 assists he’s averaged in two games against the Lakers.
There isn’t much truth to this narrative over the regular season, outside of acknowledging that Murray does slightly improve against the Lakers. This belief largely stems from Murray’s performance against the Lakers in the 2023 Western Conference Finals, where Jamal Murray averaged 32.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 5.3 assists as the Lakers were swept 4-0 en route to an NBA Championship win.
Over his career, Murray has averaged 26.6 points, 6.7 assists, and 5.0 rebounds in 14 Playoff games against the Lakers, while his career Playoff average is 23.7 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 6.0 assists.
Murray also boasts an 8-4 win-loss record over the Lakers over the last four seasons (8-1 in Playoffs), where the narrative around him overperforming against the Lakers started catching steam. It’s not that wild for Laker fans to claim that they fall victim to Murray overperforming against them. The team has had two head coaches and defensive systems over this span, but Murray always seems to find success against them.
It’s easy to see why Murray feels it’s disrespectful to say that he specifically plays at a higher level against the Lakers when the recent history of his matchups against the Lakers isn’t too dissimilar to his general stats. But he also failed to consider how performances when the lights are at their brightest impact someone’s legacy. The fact that he went off in the 2023 Playoff matchup and has stayed relatively consistent at that level in the following matchups is what keeps this belief strong.
He might get the opportunity to build on this narrative in the 2026 NBA Playoffs if the Lakers and Nuggets cross paths once again. Denver occupies the No. 5 seed in the West with a 39-24 record, while the Lakers are No. 6 with a 37-25 record.
There are realistic pathways that could bring a 3-6 or 4-5 Playoff matchup between the squads, but we’ll have to wait and see how the rest of the season plays out before forecasting a fourth Playoff meeting between the teams in the 2020s.
