Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray playing time was reduced

Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray has had an up-and-down start with his playing time with Team Canada this summer.

The good news is that Murray isn’t dealing with any kind of injury. The Canadian National Team is simply ramping him up to get him ready for the Paris Olympics.

Murray joined Team Canada in Las Vegas for exhibition games, but then didn’t travel with the team to France. Murray had to attend to a personal matter before joining his teammates. Since then, Murray has played only a handful of minutes over two exhibition games in France.

However, this is reportedly all part of the plan for managing Murray in the leadup to the Olympics.

Canada has one more exhibition game against Brazil before starting group play this weekend. The Nuggets star is expected to play more in that game.

Murray is also awaiting a contract extension with Denver. Both sides have reportedly agreed to table extension discussions until after the Olympics.