When the Denver Nuggets drafted Jamal Murray with the seventh overall pick of the 2016 NBA Draft, it wasn't quite clear yet which position he'd be playing for the long haul. He excelled in a more off-ball role, as he played more as a shooting guard to begin his career. But seven years later, and Murray has become a stellar point guard in his own right — for a championship-winning team no less.

In fact, Murray entered Game 5 of the 2023 NBA Finals against the Miami Heat as one of only two players in history to tally 10 or more assists in four consecutive games to start a Finals series, joining Magic Johnson in that exclusive club. But with the Nuggets star guard notching eight more assists in their title-clinching 94-89 victory on Monday night, he proceeded to join an even loftier NBA Finals club.

As Twitter user @SwipaCam pointed out, Jamal Murray, with his 21.4 points and 10.0 assists per game, became just the fourth player to average 20+ points and 10+ assists in NBA Finals history, joining the likes of LeBron James, Michael Jordan, and Johnson. Those three are always in the discussion of who the ten best players in the history of the league are, so to be included in their company is no mean feat.

Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James has two such Finals series. In 2017 and 2018, he tried to put the Cleveland Cavaliers on his back by averaging a combined 33.8 points and 10 assists in back-to-back heartbreaking defeats. Meanwhile, Michael Jordan, much like the Nuggets star guard, breached the aforementioned statistical benchmarks in their first-ever NBA Finals appearances.

But when scoring and playmaking mastery are brought up, everything pales in comparison to Magic Johnson's output. Johnson had six such NBA Finals series which is two more than Murray, James, and Jordan combine for.

Jamal Murray's progression as a passer and decision-maker has been incredible. For a player who averages 4.2 assists in his career, achieving this level of playmaking mastery in the NBA's grandest stage is quite the marvelous achievement.

And knowing how hard the Nuggets guard needed to work just to get back to this point, you simply can't help but love the 26-year old guard — especially given how much winning a championship means to him.