Jamal Murray of the Denver Nuggets was ruled out for the rest of the season after suffering a torn ACL to his left knee in the game against the Golden State Warriors on Monday, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic.

The Nuggets, which currently rank No. 4 in the Western Conference, lost their starting point guard, who has averaged 21.2 points, 4.8 assists and 2.7 triples at 40.8 percent per game. But Murray's role to the team is way more important than that.

The Nuggets' whole offensive system is built on screen plays by Nikola Jokic and Murray has been Jokic's best partner for that. Murray is also the team's best perimeter ball-handler. He may not be a good orchestrator, but his penetration and shooting off-the-dribble skills are key to changing the opponents' defense in most games.

More importantly, after Murray averaged 31.6 points, including dropping 50 points in two games, in the playoff series against the Utah Jazz last season, he is able to draw enough defensive attention so Jokic won't have to be double-teamed or even triple-teamed in every possession. Murray's scoring explosiveness is also integral to the Nuggets in the uphill battles in the West.

Now all of the above is gone.

The Nuggets seem to have more than enough perimeter players who can deal with the ball, but none of them can do Murray's work. The team's offense can still work if you put Monte Morris, Facundo Campazzo and P.J. Dozier together with Jokic on the court, but when Jokic takes a break on the bench, the Nuggets become a leaderless group. In fact, that's exactly how they lost to the Boston Celtics and the Warriors in the past two games.

One option for coach Mike Malone is to increase Jokic's time on the floor, but Jokic has already played 1,913 minutes this season, the second-most in the league. It's true that his game does not demand much athleticism and he's been very healthy most of the time. However, is it really wise to make a 2.11-meter-tall, 130+kilogram center play longer than 35 minutes per game?

A little reminder, James Harden, who has missed only 39 games in the previous 11 seasons in his career, suffered hamstring injury after averaging 37.3 minutes for the Brooklyn Nets.

So, can anyone at least shoulder part of Murray's role? Aaron Gordon developed certain passing ability during his time in the Orlando Magic, but he lacks individual offensive threat. Meanwhile, when he and Jokic launch screen plays, it's almost impossible to find a mismatch because their size.

Michael Jr. Porter has continued to improve his finishing ability this season and he has more than enough ways to score in the game. Nonetheless, at least at the moment, the Nuggets will pray that he does not do anything other than shooting or charging the rim after receiving the ball.

Perhaps the cruel fact for the Nuggets is that, they have to lower their goals for the season and remake plans for next season, depending on when Murray will be back and how long it will take for him to fit in again.

The Nuggets still have 18 games to play and they will face the Portland Trail Blazers, the Warriors, the New Orleans Pelicans, the Los Angeles Clippers, the Los Angeles Lakers, the Jazz and the Brooklyn Nets.