Keegan Murray’s place in Sacramento has shifted from rising star to major question mark, and the answer could shape where the Kings go next.
The wing arrived with real momentum. In his rookie season, Murray buried 206 threes, setting a new NBA rookie record that had belonged to Donovan Mitchell from 2017-18. He knocked down 41.1% of his shots from deep on 6.3 attempts per game, played a huge role in the Kings snapping a 16-year playoff drought, and finished with All-Rookie First Team honors.
Since then, the numbers have moved the wrong way. Murray’s three-point accuracy has dropped each season, falling to 35.8% in 2023-24, then 34.3% in 2024-25, and all the way to 27.7% last season. For a player Sacramento has treated like a cornerstone, that kind of slide is hard to ignore.
The Kings made that commitment last October, when they kept him out of trade discussions and locked him into a five-year, $140 million rookie contract extension. That deal took effect on July 1, and Murray enters his fifth season as a $25 million-plus player. The expectation now is simple: he has to produce like it.
Last season never gave him much of a chance to settle in. Murray tore his UCL in his right finger, missed 15 games, then sat out 20 more after a moderate left ankle sprain.
He later had an arthroscopic procedure in May. Even across just 23 appearances, he never looked like the player Sacramento needed.
"His ability to go, 'Well, I am the man, I am the leader, I can be your number one guy,' even though those chances appeared last season, it didn't happen," James Lloyd said on last Friday's episode of "Locked On Fantasy Basketball."
Lloyd’s point was bigger than one rough season. Murray still has the profile teams chase: a 6-foot-8 wing who can stretch the floor and hold up on the perimeter. He’s already shown he can pile up points quickly when the shot is falling, and he backed that up with a career-high 47 points against the Utah Jazz on Dec. 16, 2023, when he went 12-for-15 from three and added two steals.
That’s the version Sacramento needs back. With general manager Scott Perry drafting Darius Acuff Jr. seventh overall and steering the franchise toward a youth movement, Murray’s recovery matters even more.
The Kings don’t need him to relive the exact rookie explosion. They do need him to become a dependable high-volume shooter again. If his three-point clip climbs back into the high 30s and he can stay available, Sacramento’s young core suddenly looks a lot easier to build around.
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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 🡒]
Keegan Murray Could Shape The Kings Offense In A New Way
The Kings are heading into a transition season with a roster that blends established veterans and younger pieces, and the early emphasis is likely to be on finding new ways to make the offense more dynamic. Sacramento also has seventh-overall pick Darius Acuff Jr. in the mix, which only adds to the sense that the team will be experimenting with different lineup combinations as it tries to build around both present-tense scoring and long-term development.
One of the more interesting possibilities involves Keegan Murray in pick-and-roll actions with Acuff, a pairing that could give the Kings another layer to explore. Murray has not spent much time as a screen-setter, but if that part of his game grows, it could open up more options for Sacramento and help unlock a different kind of offensive flow than the one fans have seen before. [Read more 🡒]