NBA Notes: Nuggets, Jamal Murray, Mavs, Kyrie Irving, Bulls, Zach LaVine

Nuggets

Some have suggested that the Nuggets paid too steep of a price in their decision to offer guard Jamal Murray a maximum contract extension.

And yes, that case can definitely be made. Murray is a borderline All-Star in most seasons and the Nuggets’ second-best weapon behind Nikola Jokic. But a max player? Yeah, that seems like a bit of a reach.

“Of course, given Murray’s middling playoff performance (40.2% shooting from the floor and 31.5% on 3-pointers) and full-fledged Olympic funk (6.0 PPG on 14.3% shooting from deep), Denver was destined to face a rash of questions and second-guessing no matter what it did with Murray,” wrote Marc Stein of The Stein Line.

Meanwhile, the Nuggets remain a team that isn’t viewed as very deep, or very reliable from the perimeter.

“The reality is that Murray and Jokic have achieved too much as a duo for the Nuggets to risk exposing Murray to free agency next summer,” Stein wrote. “Yet it’s equally true that the Nuggets, even with a done deal for their second-best player, rank as one of the league’s leading curiosities as Media Day approaches.

“Russell Westbrook was Denver’s only significant offseason signing, ranks as the only other player on the roster not named Jokić to achieve All-Star status and, even if you continue to be a Russ Believer with his 36th birthday looming in November, isn’t going to do much to help the Nuggets where they need it most: They barely escaped the league’s bottom five in made 3-pointers last season.”

Mavericks

Star guard Kyrie Irving opened up about the Mavericks’ run to the Finals — which ended in disappointment, given the loss to the Celtics.

“Last year was definitely a disappointing year from the standpoint of not winning the Finals as a team and just coming up short,” Irving said on social media, via Mason Williams of SI.com. “But we got there for a reason. Blood is definitely in the water.

“I’m always going to take my accountability. It starts with me. So as we close out this September with ’23-’24 highlight film, definitely gotta set that straight. I did not play my best at all down the stretch in the season, and yeah, it’s been eating me alive in a healthy way. Just staying motivated that we’re going to be back. Yeah, we’re going to be back. Just gonna have fun and take it day by day. Losing (expletive) sucks, though.”

• In case you missed it, the Mavs are bringing back forward Markieff Morris. We have more out of Dallas here.

Bulls

The Bulls are still hopeful of trading guard Zach LaVine, but reality says he’ll still be on the roster when camp opens in about three weeks.