Denver Nuggets Announce Final Playing Status For Jamal Murray and Spencer Jones For Tonight's Game

The Nuggets are going to be down a pair of key players tonight vs the Hawks

Jan 2, 2026; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray (27) drives on Cleveland Cavaliers guard Craig Porter Jr. (9) during the second half at Rocket Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Dermer-Imagn Images | David Dermer-Imagn Images

Both the Nuggets and the Hawks are going to be missing several key contributors in tonight's game.

Earlier in the day, the Hawks ruled out Zaccharie Risacher and Kristaps Porzingis, as well as CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert, who were just acquired from the Washington Wizards in the Trae Young deal.

The Nuggets, meanwhile, were already going to be missing Nikola Jokic, Jonas Valanciunas, and Cam Johnson, but they have just ruled out Jamal Murray and Spencer Jones as well leaving them with a lot of minutes available for guys to step up.

𝑩𝑹𝑬𝑨𝑲𝑰𝑵𝑮: Jamal Murray (ankle, illness) is OUT tonight vs. Hawks pic.twitter.com/fzg0bVmevz

— DNVR Nuggets (@DNVR_Nuggets) January 10, 2026

The good news for the Nuggets is that Aaron Gordon, Bruce Brown, and Christian Braun are going to be able to suit up tonight.

The Hawks are going to have to wait until another game to see their new additions take the court.

New additions impact

Through 35 games this season (all starts), McCollum is averaging 18.8 points on .454 shooting from the field, including .393 from three-point range on 7.0 attempts, 3.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists in 30.9 minutes per game, owning the 10th-best mark from deep amongst all players averaging a least 7.0 attempts. He has topped the 40-point mark twice this season, including scoring a season-best 46 points on 17-25 shooting against the Hawks on Nov. 25.

McCollum has netted 10-or-more points in his last 27 games (since Nov. 7), including 20+ points 13 times, averaging 20.9 points on .481 FG%, .410 3FG% and .802 FT%, one of only nine players to average at least 20.0 points on .400%-or-better from deep over that time (min. 25 GP).

Over the course of his 13-year career, the NBA’s Most Improved Player in 2015-16 and J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award winner in 2023-24, has appeared in 822 games (725 starts), owning averages of 19.6 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.8 assists in 32.1 minutes (.453 FG%, .397 3FG%, .799 FT%). Among all active players, he ranks 11th in three-pointers made (18th all-time) with 2,085 makes. He has averaged more than 20.0 points per game in 10 of his 12 full seasons and is one of only four active players to bury 2,000-or-more three-pointers on .395%-or-better, joining Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Buddy Hield.

The 10th overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft by the Portland Trail Blazers, McCollum spent his first eight seasons with the Blazers before spending time with New Orleans and Washington. He has appeared in 67 playoff games (57 starts) over 10 postseasons, averaging 20.1 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.1 assists in 35.5 minutes (.433 FG%, .368 3FG%, .766 FT%).

In his fifth season, Kispert is averaging 9.2 points on .496 shooting from the field, including shooting .395 from three, in addition to 2.3 rebounds, and 1.7 assists in 19.5 minutes per game in 19 games (two starts).

Through 311 career games (105 starts), the 6-6 guard/forward has career averages of 10.9 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 25.5 minutes per game, while shooting .475 from the field, .383 from three and .802 from the free throw line. He owns the third-most three-pointers amongst his 2021 NBA Draft class and the fourth-most in Washington Wizards history (609). The Gonzaga product buried his 600th career three-pointer on Nov. 22, 2025, in his 308th career game, becoming the third-fastest Wizard to 600 triples, trailing only Gilbert Arenas and Bradley Beal.