Kings forward Keegan Murray has two primary goals this season: making at least 40% of his three-point tries and being in the running for the Most Improved Player award, per Matt George of ABC 10 Sacramento (Twitter link).
The 6’8″ pro started all 76 of his games with Sacramento last year, but failed to improve upon his career-best scoring output of 15.2 PPG from 2023/24. In ’24/25, Murray averaged 12.4 points, 6.7 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 0.9 blocks and 0.8 steals per game, with a shooting line of .444/.343/.833. Murray has connected on over 40% of his threes once, nailing 41.1% of 6.3 attempts per night as a rookie in 2022/23. He’s a career 37.2% shooter from distance.
Murray is eligible for an extension of his rookie-scale contract until October 20. He said on Monday that he isn’t worried about those negotiations and is deferring to his agent.
There’s more out of Sacramento:
- After taking over as the Kings’ interim head coach last season, Doug Christie has now built out his supporting staff with several new faces. According to Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee (Twitter link), Christie said on Monday that assistant coach Mike Miller will handle the club’s offense and Bobby Jackson will be entrusted to command Sacramento’s defense.
- The Kings have announced several new basketball operations staff updates in a press statement. As Michael Scotto of HoopsHype observes (via Twitter), Sacramento has added multiple former Knicks staffers who previously worked with Kings general manager Scott Perry in New York. That group includes new director of pro player personnel Fred Cofield, new director of college scouting John Halas, and new vice president of data science and planning Tom Perry.
- Veteran Kings forward DeMar DeRozan acknowledged that the club’s chaotic 2024/25 — which saw a coaching regime transition and trades involving several rotation players, including All-Star guard De’Aaron Fox — was difficult to handle for Sacramento players, per KCRA 3 Northern California (Twitter video link). “Just being honest with you, there was just a lot of s–t that was going on that, you know, internally we tried to fight through as players,” DeRozan said. “So I think this time around you’ll see a much different team.” DeRozan, 36, is embarking on the second season of a three-year, $73.9MM deal. He submitted a fairly steady performance during his inaugural Kings season, averaging 22.2 points, 4.4 assists, and 3.9 rebounds in 77 games on .477/.328/.857 shooting splits.
How much of Keegan decline in shooting percentage is due to completely different personal? DeMar and Lavine are only passing that rock as a last resort. Only if in a jam. Was Murray getting better looks with Fox and now forcing up tougher shots? Fox and Sabonis were probably better for Keegan. DeMar and Lavine are me players. Getting theirs no matter what.
He changed positions.
Absolutely correct on LaVine and Demar. Fox was a much more willing passer. Having both Fox and Sabonis be the hub of the offense gave Keegs a lot of space and easy looks which he can definitely knock down.
Sabonis doesn’t mesh well with either of Demar or Lavine. I guess LaVine more so than Demar but still nowhere near as well as he did with Fox.
Regardless, all 3 of those guys won’t be Kings in 2 years.
The Kings put together their roster like it’s NBA Live 98.
@nrg82,.
The book.on Murray is that the league figured out you don’t have to defend the drive, so they play him to shoot. And he’s not great at creating space for himself. Basically, both his 3pt and mid-range shooting success have been declining steadily since he joined the league 3 years ago.
This was the concern with Keegan since before he was drafted: highly skilled and high IQ, but no explosiveness. He played his first NBA game at 22, and he’s 25 years old now. The sense is that he’s a finished product, and the interest in him around the league has cooled considerably.
The fact that Sac didn’t offer him an extension is telling. Even worse, they offered Kuminga his position in public. A really bad off-season.
To me DeM DeR and Zach play the same position. They are similar players who imo are a bad mix. They are both scorers not shooters. If Murray could play D. He is a better mix with either one. Chemistry is just as important as talent. When building a core. DeM is older so I would move him for a real C. And keep Sabonis at the 4. Kessler could work here.
@Aristotle Somebody needs to wake up Keegan Murray. He is under the impression that his Agent is working on a new contract with the Kings. It would be rather troubling for him next May to wake up one morning and find out he doesn’t have a job.
Im here to tell ya, you will be seeing the exact same team from last season.