NBA fans had conflicting feelings about Jamal Murray watching his phone during his Nuggets press conference

Part of the job of being an NBA star is making yourself consistently available. They must perform for their team at a top level almost every other day. They are also often mandated to answer a few questions at a press conference before appropriately moving on. It’s not easy, they are human beings with understandable limitations, and some of their job description can understandably feel exhausting and tedious when you have to do it all the time. But it remains part of their job.

Someone did not pass along this memo to Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray on Saturday night.

After Denver cruised to an easy 142-121 win over the Utah Jazz — the Nuggets tied a franchise record with a 34-point lead at the half — Murray appeared during his standard press conference availability. And while he technically still answered everyone’s questions, it was apparent Murray believed he had bigger fish to fry while presumably watching UFC 299 on his phone:

There’s a lot to unpack here, and it isn’t so black and white.

For one, it’s probably not a great reflection on the gathered media contingent that Murray can seemingly answer some of these bog-standard questions without much of an effort. Because that’s what he did. He still answered all of the questions, even with his attention divided. There is something to be said about human nature taking over and understanding that when you have to answer likely the same cookie-cutter questions hundreds of times every year, and it’s hard to take 100 percent seriously the more time goes on, but he did show up and talk as required.

It’s also a little odd that the NBA and teams mandate players speak after games against woeful teams like the rebuilding Jazz, who are (unofficially) tanking. We probably don’t need to hear from players every other night, especially when so much of their job can be such a grind in a very long 82-game season. A built-in skip after inconsequential games wouldn’t be the worst idea in the future. There’s only so much insight to offer and so many interesting things to say. Not much will change from evening to evening.

That said, all of this remains part of the job description. Full stop.

It is not as if Murray is working a blue-collar job, barely scraping by to make ends meet. He is an NBA superstar making over $33 million this season. He is the second-best player on the league’s reigning champion and one of the more recognizable names in sports. The very nature of his profession means he will be justifiably held to a different higher standard than your average person who also might sometimes watch their phone at work.

The least he could do is feign some interest, stay off his phone for a few minutes before tuning into the fights he wants to watch, or, at the very least, make up some kind of reasonable excuse to skip the press conference entirely. It’s not as if the latter doesn’t happen all the time, and no one would bat an eyelash. And to be clear, the same could be said when teammates like Nikola Jokic occasionally watch his horse races while they’re supposed to be having a conversation. That isn’t entirely acceptable, either, and is fully along these lines.

These sorts of athlete press conferences can be archaic and boring for everyone involved. No one is disputing that. But it’s still a few minutes of his time, at most.