Nah’Shon Hyland showed out in summer league
Coming off a season in which they went 47-25, earning the 3-seed in the Western Conference, the Denver Nuggets are looking to once again prove that they are a real championship contender in the NBA this year, but they will have to do so without Jamal Murray for a vast majority of the season.
In April, Murray tore his left ACL against the Golden State Warriors in the final minutes of a regular-season game, resulting in him being out indefinitely.
So far, things are going well with Murray and his rehab process, but he is still in the early stages of recovery. ACL injuries are different in everyone, but it usually takes anywhere from 6-9 months from the time of surgery for a player to completely work his way back onto the court.
Denver is going to be extremely careful with their star point guard and as a result, we may not see Jamal Murray return to action until sometime in February or March of 2022.
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Who will step up in the meantime for the Nuggets in their backcourt, especially since Nikola Jokic cannot carry this team by himself? Facundo Campazzo and Monte Morris stepped up for Denver last year when Murray went down, providing some stability here-and-there, but this year, the Nuggets have nothing to worry about because they have rookie Nah’Shon “Bones” Hyland.
Not only was Denver’s rookie impressive in Summer League this offseason, averaging 19.8 points, 3.2 rebounds, 4.8 assists, and shooting 46.4% from the floor, 40% from three-point range in Las Vegas, but he has been equally impressive, if not better, in the preseason.
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The Nuggets went 1-4 this preseason and Hyland came off-the-bench in all five games for Denver, but in said games, he averaged 15.2 points, 4.0 rebounds, 4.6 assists, and has shot 45.9% from the floor, 34.2% from three-point range with his best performance coming in his third game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. The rookie guard scored 21 points on 6-12 3PT and also added 8 rebounds and 4 assists to his name that night.
