Mile High Tape · Morning

A Cleared Murray Makes Denver's Closing Five a Real Question Again

Jamal Murray's clearance matters less for today than for who stands next to Jokic when games get tight.

By the Nuggets Nightly Desk · Wednesday, October 7

Murray's status moved from day-to-day to cleared on October 7, the same day box scores confirmed he closed Denver's 117-106 win over Utah alongside Jokic, Gordon, Johnson and DeRozan. The open question is whether that five holds once games start counting on October 22 at Oklahoma City.

Nuggets Nightly artwork — Illustration by Hoops Nightly.

The clearance that matters most

Murray's designation flipped from day-to-day to cleared on October 7, closing out a question that opened October 4 as a personal matter unrelated to basketball. It means the group Denver used to finish the 117-106 win over Utah on October 6 — Gordon, Johnson, DeRozan, Murray and Jokic — is available again as a real combination, not a projection pieced together from who happened to be healthy.

Eighteen points, fifteen minutes

Gordon supplied the number worth keeping: 18 points on 5-for-7 shooting, including 2-for-3 from three, in just 15 minutes, a plus-6 stretch that outpaced teammates who played twice as long. Strawther matched that efficiency off the bench, 15 points on 4-for-7 with a plus-13 that led every Nugget on the floor.

Gordon's health question outruns the good news

None of it settles the Gordon question that opened September 13, when his designation flipped and never got a clean follow-up. Nugg Love reported October 6 that the club had put Gordon's injury worries, along with Braun's, "on the back burner," a characterization that sits uneasily next to how unresolved his file still reads three weeks later.

What comes next

Denver's preseason pauses for five days before the Bulls visit October 11, the next look at whether Murray, Jokic and Gordon share the floor as a finished product rather than a hopeful one. The regular-season opener at Oklahoma City follows on October 22. The question worth tracking: does Murray's clearance mean full minutes against Chicago, or one more cautious step before it counts.

Is Jamal Murray playing against the Bulls on October 11?

Murray was cleared from day-to-day status on October 7, and he already closed Denver's October 6 win over Utah, so he is positioned to play when Chicago visits.

How many minutes did Aaron Gordon play against Utah, and how did he score?

Gordon played 15 minutes in the October 6 win over Utah, scoring 18 points on 5-for-7 shooting with 2 made threes.

By the Nuggets Nightly Desk, written from the club's data and the reports on file, with every name and number checked against them. How the desks work.