The Sacramento Kings have plenty to sort through as the 2026-27 season begins, but one of the biggest questions sits with a player who has already been around long enough to feel like a fixture: Keegan Murray.
Sacramento is staring at a roster full of uncertainty, from the futures of Domantas Sabonis, Zach LaVine, and Malik Monk to the first-year evaluations of rookies Darius Acuff Jr., Alex Karaban, and Emanuel Sharp. Still, Murray belongs near the center of the conversation. He’s one of the longest-tenured Kings, and his first games of the season could tell the team a lot about where things are headed.
That urgency comes from what last season became. After De’Aaron Fox’s departure, the expectation was that Murray would take on more and reveal more of the offensive upside that made him the No. 4 pick in the 2022 draft.
Instead, he was limited to just 23 games in what amounted to a lost season for the then fourth-year wing. So even with his new five-year, $140 million contract in hand, there’s still a real mystery around what he looks like now.
His numbers from last season - 14.0 points, 5.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 1.6 blocks while shooting 42.0% from the field and 27.7% from three - only sharpen the focus on one thing: the jumper. Murray’s three-point shot remains the swing skill for both him and the Kings.
He has already shown he can help winning basketball without being the deadeye shooter he was as a rookie, when he hit 41.1% from deep. But if he gets back anywhere close to that level, the conversation around his ceiling changes fast.
That’s why Sacramento’s early-season evaluation matters so much. The Kings are still figuring out who fits the long-term picture, and the key question is which players make sense next to Acuff.
On paper, Murray checks a lot of boxes: size, defense, rebounding, and at least the possibility of reliable perimeter shooting. That profile fits what teams want from a modern forward.
But if the production never pops, the Kings may have to start thinking about another answer at forward before Murray’s value slips further. There was a time when he was viewed as the team’s biggest trade chip, and the front office under both Scott Perry and Monte McNair held onto him rather than moving him.
It’s easy to imagine now that Sacramento could have landed Pascal Siakam or OG Anunoby for Murray, but that window is gone. There’s no sense that kind of return is available anymore, which only raises the stakes on what he does next.
The encouraging part for Murray is that he doesn’t need to carry the whole offense. That job appears to belong to Acuff, which should let Murray settle into a more natural support role.
Even so, the opening stretch of the season feels pivotal for him. There are still a lot of possible paths ahead, and the first 10 games may be the clearest sign yet of whether his career gets back on track.
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Acuff showed flashes of why people are excited during summer league, especially as a creator who can set the table and score in bunches. The next step, though, is the hard one for any young guard: handling NBA-level defense while tightening up his shooting efficiency, and if he gets there, the early comparisons to former Kings guard De'Aaron Fox will only get louder. [Read more 🡒]