The Kings have agreed to sign Keegan Murray to a five-year, $140MM rookie contract extension, reports Shams Charania for ESPN (via Twitter).
Murray, who turned 25 in August, was the fourth overall pick in the 2022 draft out of Iowa. He holds career averages of 13.3 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 1.4 assists per game on .451/.372/.812 shooting splits.
Murray experienced a breakout sophomore season in 2023/24, averaging 15.2 PPG and 5.5 RPG while recording a steal and nearly a block per game. However, he took a slight step back in his third year last season as Sacramento brought in more offensive firepower around him in DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine.
Murray has shown the potential to be a high-level shooter and wing defender, and spoke recently about his excitement for Dennis Schröder to take on some of the tougher backcourt assignments, which would free him up to defend opposing teams’ best wings and forwards.
He also recently stated his two goals for the season: to hit at least 40% of his threes and to win the league’s Most Improved Player award.
Murray recently underwent surgery to address a torn thumb ligament and is expected to miss four to six weeks.
James Ham notes (via Twitter) that Murray is expected to officially sign his new contract in the next 24-to-48 hours, ahead of Monday’s rookie scale extension deadline. ESPN’s Anthony Slater adds (via Twitter) that there are no team or player options on the five-year deal, which will run through 2030/31.
Murray is the sixth player this offseason to agree to a rookie scale extension, joining Magic forward Paolo Banchero, Rockets forward Jabari Smith Jr., Heat forward Nikola Jovic, and Thunder teammates Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams. He’s now locked into the Kings’ long-term plans, with the longest-running contract on the team.
Kuminga-Murray 1-1 in January then? lol jk
More like Kings are not going after Kuminga now. Not sure what the Kings are doing. Will they try to buy Zach out next year?
No one is after Kuminga… that’s why he’s still in Golden State.
I take Kuminga over Murray for sure. But for Warriors right NOW. Murray is a better fit.
SUPER BOWL BABY
Oh Scott Perry… foolish of me to put my faith in you.
He’s a good player, but the roster horribly constructed, and doesn’t suit him at all
I mean he IS who they should build around. Nix the entire roster aside him from though.
Yikes
Wow
Typo … I really don’t think he is averaging 15.6 boards per game lol
I guess with the cap going up this won’t look as bad in a few years. Still, for a franchise stuck in mediocrity to spend close to 30MM for a guy with seemingly little untapped upside and who is only solid, not great, as a shooter and defender…meh.
that’s a good deal for the kings
He’s still got plenty of room to develop further. His patchy last few seasons aren’t entirely on him – while his 3pt shooting has taken a step back, it’s probably due to the fact that the Kings have arguably the worst floor spacing in the NBA, and probably the worst roster construction. He has been surrounded by ball-dominant guys that defenders have zero respect for beyond the arc – it’s hard to get good looks off the back of that.
I would have liked to see him get out of Sacramento though, and have a chance to develop in somewhere that isn’t a complete dumpster-fire.
Good points. Admittedly, I haven’t looked at his underlying metrics: % on open threes, % of open threes, etc. It’s entirely possible his numbers would look better on a sanely constructed team.
That said, he was an older player coming out of the draft so there wasn’t the expectation of significant upside to begin with. And he hasn’t shown anything in terms of putting the ball on the floor or making plays for others. But if he can simply take the shooting to another level that would be great.