October 13: Murray underwent successful surgery on Monday, according to the Kings (Twitter link via James Ham of The Kings Beat). He will be reevaluated in four-to-six weeks.
October 12: Kings forward Keegan Murray has been diagnosed with a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his left thumb, the team announced today in a press release.
It’s unfortunate timing for Murray, who is eligible to sign a rookie scale extension between now and October 20. While his injury likely won’t impact the Kings’ long-term view of him or significantly impact those negotiations, the 25-year-old won’t have the opportunity to make a final case for a new deal on the court this week in the team’s two remaining preseason games.
The fourth overall pick in the 2022 draft, Murray had a promising rookie season in which he averaged 12.2 points and 4.6 rebounds per game, shot 41.1% from beyond the three-point line, and finished fifth in Rookie of the Year voting as he started 78 games for Sacramento.
The 6’8″ forward has remained a starter for the Kings in the two years since then and has improved as a defender, but hasn’t taken a step forward offensively. In 2024/25, he averaged 12.4 PPG on .444/.343/.833 shooting while playing a career-high 34.3 minutes per night.
If Murray, who is earning roughly $11.1MM this season, doesn’t sign a rookie scale extension by next Monday, he’ll be on track for free agency during the summer of 2026. The Kings would have to tender him a qualifying offer worth approximately $14.7MM to make him a restricted free agent at that time.
It’s unclear who will take Murray’s spot in the starting five while he recovers, but forward Nique Clifford started the second half in his place on Friday alongside Dennis Schröder, Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, and Domantas Sabonis. Dario Saric and Doug McDermott are among the team’s other options at forward — if head coach Doug Christie wants to roll with a guard-heavy lineup, he could make Malik Monk or Keon Ellis a starter.
Poor Kings fans.
My sincere best wishes for a full recovery.
This isnt his fault, but I feel like Murray has been very disappointing after his rookie season
He’s gotten much better defensively and with rebounding, but his offense has taken a hit.
Offense took a dip because the worst run franchise in the NBA wanted to be the Sacramento Bulls and run the same team the bulls had. Levine is a 3rd Star making 1star money. DeMar DeRozan is cooked and should be a bench scorer. And sabonis is a PF playing center.
Lol true
He was already an older rookie so the development was limited. He seems pretty one dimensional and lacks the attacking to rim moves. Defense is okay.
Although this is a bit of a hit for the kings, it’s early in the season so it allows Christie to give other guys more time. Let’s see if Saric can slide into a starting role and be consistent. Also it’s a great opportunity for Christie to experiment with mall ball lineups with Monk playing with the starters.
I think they would use Ellis over Monk in a small ball starting lineup.
You can’t have Monk, Demar, and Lavine all at once due to no defense and they all want shots.
He’s gotta be faking it, according to you.
How so? Or is this just another one of your delusions?
That his point apparently went over your head is unsurprising.
Except it didn’t, the problem is the point is purely based on a delusion created in his head. Which makes this point of yours also a delusion. Quite the common theme from warriors fans I’ve noticed
We all saw you claim that Moody didn’t injure his UCL in March.
Troll on!
Yea and what’s your point troll?
“Let’s see if Saric can slide into a starting role and be consistent. ”
LMAO !
It’s a pretty good question considering he hasn’t had a consistent starting role in 5 years.
Try again, lMaO
This guy is a SF not a PF at all. Should never play PF
Well that suxx .
Did we all jinx him ?
The way Saric and McDermott have regressed the past few years, there’s a good chance neither will even be in the NBA by next year.
Saric offense and McDermott defense, without looking might be top 5% bad at their respective positions.