Kings Keep No. 4 Pick, Draft Keegan Murray

After weighing trade offers for weeks, the Kings have decided to keep the No. 4 overall pick and have drafted Iowa’s Keegan Murray, per Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter links).

Murray and Purdue guard Jaden Ivey were widely considered the top two prospects after the top three were off the board. While Ivey was ahead of Murray on many experts’ boards, he may have been an awkward fit in Sacramento alongside a similar lead guard in De’Aaron Fox. Murray should comfortably slot into the Kings’ frontcourt alongside Domantas Sabonis.

Murray, who was not a blue chip prospect entering college, was one of Division I’s most prolific scorers this past season. He averaged 23.5 PPG along with 8.7 RPG while knocking down 39.8% of his 3-point tries. He was also a defensive force (1.9 BPG, 1.3 SPG). He’s considered by many experts to be the most NBA ready prospect in the draft after playing two seasons of college ball.

Kings forward Harrison Barnes has been mentioned frequently in trade rumors this offseason, and the selection of Murray could make a Barnes deal more likely as the team seeks to end the league’s longest current playoff drought.

We won’t be publishing full stories on the rest of the individual picks in this year’s draft – unless there are trades involved – but we’re tracking all the picks right here.

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