The Sacramento Kings are heading into a season built around change, and that opens the door for some fresh combinations that haven’t really been available before. With Darius Acuff Jr. arriving as the seventh-overall pick, Sacramento suddenly has a young guard whose game appears tailor-made for pick-and-roll work. From what he showed in college and Summer League, that’s likely to be a major part of the plan.
That creates a pretty interesting question for Keegan Murray.
For most of his first four seasons, Murray has lived on the other side of that action. He’s been the guy benefiting from Domantas Sabonis’ screens in the dribble handoff game, not the one setting them. Sabonis has piled up screen assists and usually sits near the top of that category, while Murray has barely been asked to take on that job.
The numbers back that up. In 256 career games, Murray has only 103 total screen assists, per NBA.com.
Year by year, he’s hovered between 0.3 and 0.5 per game. That’s not a skill he’s been forced to lean on, at least not yet.
But Murray has already shown he can add to his game. He’s gotten better on defense to the point that he’s now the team’s best perimeter defender.
He’s improved as a rebounder and as a player who can attack the basket. If he can become a real screen-setting option, it would add another layer to a profile that’s already becoming more complete.
There’s also a clear basketball reason to try it with Acuff. When the screen comes from a center, the defense can play the perimeter a little differently.
Sabonis and Maxime Raynaud have both shown some ability to shoot threes, but neither is a true threat from deep, at least not yet for Raynaud. That means defenders can help a little more freely.
Murray changes that equation. He has the shooting ability to make teams pay from the arc, even if the hope is that his three-point shot bounces back after three straight seasons of decline, down to 27.7% last year. If he’s the screener, defenders have to think twice before wandering away from him.
That could also make Acuff even more dangerous. He’s described as a dynamic player coming off screens, and pairing that with Murray could give Sacramento a new wrinkle. It might also create cleaner looks for Murray himself, giving him chances to knock down catch-and-shoot threes instead of working as much on the move out of Sabonis handoffs.
The Kings have other options in the frontcourt, including Dylan Cardwell and Precious Achiuwa, but the idea of Murray and Acuff developing chemistry stands out because it gives Sacramento something different. In a transition season, that matters. This is the time to test new ideas, and if Murray can unlock this part of his game, it could pay off well beyond this year.
In Other News...
Kings May Have To Wait On A Russell Westbrook Reunion
Russell Westbrook is not on the Kings roster right now, and the reason is less about fit than finances. Sacramento does have two open roster spots, but with no salary cap space to work with, the team simply cannot add players at the moment.
The squeeze comes largely from the contracts already on the books, which leaves the front office waiting for a cleaner path to bring in outside help. That is why any talk of a Westbrook reunion feels more like a future possibility than an immediate move, with some speculation pointing to the 2027 trade deadline if the cap picture finally loosens up. [Read more 🡒]
Zach LaVine Just Raised The Stakes For Sacramento's Next Step
Zach LaVines decision to stay put gives Sacramento a very different kind of offseason headline than the one many expected. The Kings had been looking at possible trade paths, but LaVine chose to opt into his $49 million player option, keeping him on the roster and immediately raising the importance of what comes next for a team trying to steady itself after an injury-hit season.
LaVine said he still believes in the culture and the potential around the group, and he pointed to the promise of a backcourt pairing with rookie Darius Acuff as part of why he sees a path forward. Sacramento has also tried to reinforce that vision by adding new players out of strong college programs, a sign the front office is still betting on cohesion and development as much as talent. [Read more 🡒]