Kendrick Perkins throws shade at Nuggets’ Jamal Murray for not backing up Nikola Jokic

The Denver Nuggets dropped a frustrating game on Monday evening at home vs the New York Knicks, giving up 145 points in what turned out to be a 27-point loss. The defeat occurred on the heels of what had been a resounding road win against the Los Angeles Lakers two nights prior, and took the wind out of the sails of a Nuggets team that was hoping it had finally turned a corner.

Despite his team’s inconsistency, Nikola Jokic has further solidified his status as the best player in the world so far this season, currently averaging 29.7 points, 13.4 rebounds, and 10.9 assists on the campaign. However, he hasn’t received a ton of help from his supporting cast, particularly Jamal Murray, who has underwhelmed since signing a contract extension this past offseason.

One person who is fed up with what he’s seen so far this year from Murray is Kendrick Perkins, who recently took to ESPN’s First Take to express his frustration.

“When is Jamal Murray going to help a brother out? When is he going to raise his level of play to All-Star level, not even talking about All-NBA, just All-Star level and help Jokic out?” wondered Perkins. “He’s averaging about 17 points right now. He hasn’t averaged those type of numbers since his second year in the NBA. When I think about what Jokic is doing. Jokic is having his best season of his career right now, numbers wise.”

Perkins also alluded to comments that Murray made after the Knicks game about the Nuggets’ perceived lack of intensity.”We are looking for Jamal Murray to elevate his game fresh off a contract extension and he hasn’t done it,” said Perkins. “So at the end of the day when you talk about a level of focus, no, you’re talking to yourself.”

An alarming trend

Jamal Murray’s struggles have dated back to the postseason last year. Even in the first round against the Los Angeles Lakers, a series in which he hit two game winners, Murray largely struggled from the field, and was more or less shut down by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the following series.

Those struggles continued over into the Olympics as a member of the Canadian National Team, who were sent home earlier than expected thanks in large part to Murray’s struggles.

Now, the shooting slump has emerged in the new NBA season, and Nuggets fans have to be wondering if their team made a mistake by committing such massive money to a player who hasn’t looked like himself for the better part of a year.