Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Chris Paul may have rubbed some teammates the wrong way in the past, but he has a glowing reputation around the league as a great leader.
A rising star took some lessons from him over summer.
Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray, who has wowed the NBA with his playoff performances over the last month, was put in touch with Paul by Nuggets head coach Michael Malone, according to Denver Stiff’s Ryan Blackburn.
The 23-year-old learned about leadership techniques from Paul, Blackburn tweeted.
It looks like he took those lessons to heart. With the two-man game of Murray and center Nikola Jokic, Denver is in the Western Conference Finals.
Fascinating from Michael Malone. He said he got Jamal Murray and Chris Paul together in the summer so Murray could learn from him about leadership.
— Ryan Blackburn (@NBABlackburn) September 17, 2020
It has taken Herculean efforts from Murray and Jokic to get there.
Against the Utah Jazz in the first round, Murray broke the NBA record for most points in a first-round playoff series.
He scored 50 points in a Game 4 loss, but posted 42 in Game 5 and 50 in Game 6, becoming the first player since Michael Jordan to score at least 40 points in three games in a row in a playoff series.
Murray helped the Nuggets overcome a 3-1 deficit and advance to the second round.
Then, Denver did it again against the Los Angeles Clippers.
After falling behind three games to one against a team considered by many to be a title contender, the Nuggets stormed back to win the series. Murray scored 40 points in Game 7.
Now, the Nuggets find themselves trailing the Los Angeles Lakers 2-0 in the conference finals. But they have more than proven that they won’t be disheartened by the deficit.
Murray, one of the leaders on the team, is a reason why.
