Keegan Murray On Track To Make Kings Debut This Weekend

Oct 21, 2022, 1:48 PM | Updated: 2:07 pm

(Sactown Sports)

Editor & Kings Beat Writer

Sacramento Kings rookie forward Keegan Murray is on track to make his NBA debut this weekend, possibly as soon as Saturday night at Golden 1 Center against the Los Angeles Clippers.

Murray participated in the entirety of Friday’s practice, including the full-contact portion, meaning that it’s increasingly likely that the fourth-overall pick from June’s NBA Draft suits up this weekend for the first time as a professional basketball player.

The timing for Murray’s return is certainly ideal as the Kings will play a road-home-back-to-back set of games against the Clippers and Golden State Warriors this weekend.

Keegan Murray getting work in at today’s practice.

Also: Neemias Queta drilling a triple 👀 pic.twitter.com/p2sDgn5O9s

— Frankie Cartoscelli (@FCartoscelli3) October 20, 2022

Murray missed Sacramento’s final two preseason games with what was originally diagnosed as a non-COVID illness, but the 22-year-old was placed into the NBA’s Health & Safety protocols last Saturday evening.

After four days away from the team–and on the morning of Wednesday’s season-opener–Murray cleared protocols and participated in the team’s pre-game shoot-around session, but head coach Mike Brown stated that the forward needed to go through a full-contact practice and be evaluated by the medical staff before being given the green light to suit up for his debut.

Thursday’s practice was Murray’s first full workout since being placed into protocols, but he came through the non-contact portion feeling “100 percent” as he set his sights on being able to play in Saturday’s game against the Clippers.

“I was a full participant, I did everything,” Murray said following his return to practice. “I had symptoms, it kind of hit me a little bit. But I’m 100 percent now and I feel really good. Just something that took me a couple of days to get over the hurdle.”

Murray practiced for the second-consecutive day on Friday and a source close to the team shared that the 6’8 forward “looked great” during the full-contact portion. Following practice, De’Aaron Fox told the media that the team is excited to have Murray on the floor this weekend.

“He’s excited, we’re excited to have him out there for a game that counts,” Fox said of Murray’s return.

When asked what he thought of Murray’s current state of conditioning, Fox laughed and explained that even if the rookie was feeling tired, you wouldn’t be able to tell due to the rookie’s stoic demeanor.

“He looked fine. I think if Keegan was tired, we still wouldn’t know,” Fox said. “I think that he looked great today.”

Murray was seen in the same colored jersey as the rest of the Kings starters, meaning that it’s possible head coach Mike Brown opts to start the rookie in his debut. Forward KZ Okpala got reps in with the second-unit on Friday, but it also wouldn’t be out of the ordinary if Brown brings Murray off of the bench in a limited fashion for the first couple of games.

Limited or not, Sacramento could use Murray’s impact on both ends of the floor–especially on the offensive end as the Kings struggled to find consistency during Wednesday’s season-opener against the Portland Trail Blazers.

De’Aaron Fox and Kevin Huerter turned in impressive performances during the 115-108 loss, combining to score 56 points on 2o-of-33 shooting (60%) from the field. However, if you take away those two players’ contributions, the rest of Sacramento’s offense shot 19-of-52 (36%) from the field and six-of-26 (23%) from three-point range.

Key contributors Harrison Barnes (nine points) and Domantas Sabonis (13 points) had uncharacteristic outings during the loss, but with Murray back in the fold, those two players could find themselves in better positions within the flow of the offense as opponents will have to stay locked in on the sharpshooting rookie.

Help is on the way for the Kings as the Keegan Murray era is finally set to begin in Sacramento.