During his dormant rookie season, Jalen Pickett occasionally played one-on-one against Jamal Murray. Pickett was the Nuggets’ fourth-string point guard, grasping for reps wherever he could find them.
On the practice court in Denver, he found not only a basketball challenge, but emotional sustenance from a star player.
“He’d seen I had a little bit of game,” Pickett said of Murray. “He was always just telling me I’d get a chance, I’d get an opportunity. He also told me he missed, like, his first 20 shots (of his career), or whatever it was.”
Seventeen, to be exact. But that ended up working out OK for Murray in the end, if career earnings or championships are suitable units of measurement. Maybe that made him the perfect teammate to uplift Pickett, who was learning to live with unfamiliar circumstances in 2023-24. After an illustrious five-year college career that ended with All-American honors at Penn State — he never averaged fewer than 36 minutes per game out of 40 — Pickett was buried at the bottom of a 57-win NBA team’s roster.
By the end of a disappointing second Summer League, he seemed in danger of experiencing a similar lack of opportunity this season.
But with occasional injuries to Murray and Russell Westbrook, the Nuggets (35-19) have needed Pickett to play double-digit minutes in 11 games before the All-Star break. He eclipsed 10 minutes only twice as a rookie.
The 25-year-old’s unorthodox skillset and two-way sturdiness have been apparent in every one of those games — most prominently a 14-point, nine-assist performance Monday to help Denver trounce the Trail Blazers. Both stats were career-highs.
“I’ve had a rough last year. And you’ve gotta just love that, being able to go through some challenges, find things that you’re good at,” Pickett said. “After such a successful college career, coming here and just basically starting over, it was tough at first. And then I just kind of fell in love with the grind, and just getting back in the gym and seeing where I could take my game.”
In 87 minutes of playing time with Nikola Jokic this year, Pickett has a 35.8 net rating. That number is so astronomical that realistically, it can only decline as the sample size grows. But even in 60 minutes with DeAndre Jordan as his center instead, Pickett has shepherded the Nuggets to a 12.2 net rating.
He has 47 assists and eight turnovers in 254 minutes.
“He did not have a good Summer League, and he knows that. … He didn’t feel sorry for himself,” coach Michael Malone said. “He just found a way to get back in the gym and work. And early in the season when guys were out with injury and we put him out there, he showed that, ‘Hey, I can come out here and run our team. I can take care of the basketball. I can make my teammates better. I can make an open shot.’”
The shot has been essential for Pickett. With the help of Nuggets shooting coach Mike Penberthy, he made an adjustment to his mechanics last year after Summer League, making it his goal to keep his elbow closer to his body.
“It was a little out last year, and especially in Summer League, it was really out,” he said. “So I’m really trying to keep it nice and tight and keep the ball straight on line.”
He has made 40% of his 3-point attempts this season, albeit at minimal volume. Open shots, he pointed out, are a natural perk of sharing the floor with Jokic.
But Pickett’s full bag was on display against Portland, with or without help from a league MVP. He buried a floater while attacking downhill. He knocked down a step-back jumper from the foul line. He flexed after a booty-ball bucket (and one) against Shaedon Sharpe. He scored “Bob Cousy” style, as Malone described it, with a lefty layup high off the glass. He lobbed an alley-oop to Zeke Nnaji and delivered to Jokic in the pocket for multiple easy baskets.
Pickett’s game is methodical and idiosyncratic. He’s only 6-foot-2. He was drafted outside of the first round. What he lacks in obvious physical gifts, he attempts to win back in physicality, touch and IQ. He has been steady as a help defender in his limited minutes. He added two steals to his stat line Monday, one by poking the ball away from Sharpe from behind.
“You never wish for anybody to get hurt,” he said, “but with Russ being out, I’m kind of getting in a couple games and finding a little rhythm here.”
When Westbrook returns to the lineup, Pickett will likely fade back into the bench. But even if that’s the case, he’ll do so with an opportunity taken advantage of this time. It’s enough to warrant more minutes, whenever he’s needed.
“He’s never gotten a chance to play until this year,” Malone said. “So it’s hard to go out there and show what you’re capable of doing if you’re never given that opportunity.”