Denver Gazette beat writer Vinny Benedetto takes you around the NBA and inside the Nuggets locker room:

NBA Insider

Jamal Murray’s future with the Canadian national team was thrown into question Monday.

The Nuggets’ star guard was excluded from Canada’s 23-man roster for the upcoming Olympics cycle. Rowan Barrett, the father of Raptors wing RJ Barrett and the general manager of Canada’s national team, offered an explanation.

“Jamal Murray is not committed to playing in the program going forward,” Barrett said. “He’s got tremendous desire to play for the country, but sometimes there are things going on with the athletes that prevent them from doing so.”

Murray has been involved with Canada’s national team for more than a decade. The Kitchener, Ontario, native represented his country in the FIBA America’s Under-16 Championship back in 2013 and again in the 2015 Pan American Games. In 2022, he committed to a three-year process ahead of the 2024 Olympics. He missed the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup after Denver’s championship run but was still selected for the Paris games, where Canada lost to France, the eventual silver medalist, in the quarterfinals.

Despite coming off the best regular season of his career, including his first All-Star and All-NBA selections, Murray apparently will watch his compatriots from afar the next few seasons.

“To be brutally honest with you, if guys don’t commit this summer, they’re not in,” head coach Gordie Herbert said. “We got too short a period to bring guys in and out. … When I was with Germany, I think we had six or seven NBA guys, (and) we had three NBA guys not come. All of a sudden they wanted to come Year 2. Sorry. You can’t be successful in anything without commitment. So that’s kind of where we stand.”

Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Lu Dort, Atlanta’s Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Toronto’s Barrett, Indiana’s Andew Nembhard, the Clippers’ Bennedict Mathurin, Dallas’s Ryan Nembhard, Phoenix’s Dillon Brooks, Washington’s Kyshawn George and Will Riley, Chicago’s Leonard Miller, and San Antonio’s Kelly Olynyk all committed to the program. Memphis’s Zach Edey, Miami’s Andrew Wiggins and Portland’s Shaedon Sharpe were not included in the player pool for this summer’s World Cup qualifiers, though Edey’s out with an injury.

What I’m thinking

Those asking Peyton Watson to play through a hamstring injury should take a look at what happened to Thunder All-Star Jalen Williams.

Williams was limited to 33 games in the regular season due to a series of hamstring strains suffered in January and February. He returned for the final couple of weeks of the regular season but missed the final two games of Oklahoma City’s first-round series against Phoenix. He also missed all four games of the Thunder’s second-round sweep over the Lakers.

The Thunder’s No. 2 option thought he was healthy enough to play in the conference finals and was on the court for 37 minutes of the Game 1 loss to the Spurs. Then, he played a total of 17 minutes in two of the final six games of the series.

The difference between Williams and Watson’s situation is the max extension earned by the Thunder wing after a championship run last season. Williams is due at least $239 million on his new deal.

Watson has made a little more than $11 million over the first four years of his NBA career and is set to receive his first big contract this summer.

If the signals that the Nuggets are prioritizing retaining Watson come true, it’s best for the franchise he didn’t rush back to help a team that didn’t have enough to get past the Timberwolves without him.

What they’re saying

Bill Simmons had Zach Lowe on his podcast Sunday to discuss the recent happenings in the NBA. The duo eventually made it to Peyton Watson’s situation in Denver. Watson’s a restricted free agent, meaning the Nuggets will have the opportunity to match any contract Watson receives.

“Why does Denver have to trade anybody to sign Peyton Watson,” Simmons asked? “(Expletive) off. You have Jokic on your team, (expletive). Pay everybody.  … Just pay Peyton Watson and keep everyone else on your team, because your owner is super rich. What are we doing?”

—After winning Most Valuable Player in back-to-back seasons, Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander deemed this season a disappointment. The Thunder failed to be the first team to become the first repeat champion since the 2017-18 Golden State Warriors.

“It was a failure,” Gilgeous-Alexander said after Oklahoma City’s Game 7 loss to the Spurs. “I failed at my goal. I didn’t achieve what I wanted to achieve, but through my experiences, I learn the most about myself and I make the greatest amount of increases I have in my career when I fail at my goal and don’t get what I want. I look at this no different. I didn’t get where I wanted to go this season. There’s a reason for that. Now, I have to look at that reason and try to make sure it never happens (again).”

What I’m following

• Nikola Jokic, predictably, was spotted at a couple of sporting events last weekend. The first was Arsenal’s loss in penalty kicks to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final in Budapest, where Jokic supported the team that’s also part of Kroenke Sports and Entertainment’s portfolio. Then, it was back to Serbia to watch horse racing Sunday.
• Bruce Brown was still hanging around Denver last weekend. Brown, who will be a free agent this summer, was at the Rockies game Friday and attended the Morgan Wallen show Saturday.
• Orlando has found its new coach, though the Magic must to get him started. San Antonio’s lead assistant, Sean Sweeney, will head to Florida after San Antonio’s NBA Finals series is over.
• Warriors guard Stephen Curry agreed to a 10-year deal to represent Chinese brand Li-Ning moving forward. Curry was a sneaker free agent for much of last season after leaving Under Armour in November.