The Sacramento Kings have gotten themselves again on the map the final couple of seasons. After a decade-and-a-half of distress, the Kings have made the playoffs two years in the past after which misplaced a play-in recreation after successful 46 video games this previous yr.
A part of the explanation why Sacramento is so fascinating is due to younger ahead Keegan Murray.
As a matter of reality, Bleacher Report’s Dan Favale listed Murray as one among 5 NBA gamers more than likely to take the subsequent step into stardom subsequent season.
Murray is coming off of a 2023-24 marketing campaign through which he performed 77 video games and averaged 15.2 factors and 5.5 rebounds over 33.6 minutes per recreation on 45.4/35.8/83.1 taking pictures splits.
It was really a somewhat disappointing season given how good he was throughout his rookie yr, when he posted a true-shooting share of 59.7 % en path to ending prime 5 in Rookie of the Yr voting.
As a matter of reality, Murray’s true-shooting share dipped almost a full three % this previous season, which isn’t shocking given the drastic dropoff in his three-point effectivity (he made 41.1 % of his triples in Yr 1).
Nonetheless, that doesn’t imply there isn’t nonetheless loads of room for Murray to develop.
Favale notably likes his protection.
“And but, his ascent can be equally, if no more, fueled by his protection,” Favale wrote. “He’s nearer to a flat-out wing stopper than he was billed popping out of Iowa and has even developed a knack for offering secondary layers of safety close to the basket.”
Perhaps Murray won’t ever be a really dynamic scorer on the NBA degree, but when he turns into a terrific two-way participant, the Kings will gladly take that.
Sacramento didn’t fairly make the playoffs this previous season, falling to the New Orleans Pelicans in a play-in recreation. Nonetheless, the Kings have been proper there within the rugged Western Convention due to main contributions from De’Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis and Malik Monk (along with Murray).
The query is, simply how good will Sacramento be throughout the 2024-25 marketing campaign?
Nicely, the Kings have introduced DeMar DeRozan aboard, so he ought to actually add one other dimension to their offense. DeRozan isn’t a lot of a long-range shooter, however he can get to the free-throw line with regularity and is nice from mid-range.
A trio of Fox, Sabonis and DeRozan sounds completely deadly offensively, however the addition doesn’t actually reply Sacramento’s greatest drawback: protection.
The Kings ranked fifteenth in defensive effectivity this previous yr, and so they don’t determine to be a complete lot higher this coming season.
In a convention that features the Dallas Mavericks, Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder, Minnesota Timberwolves, Denver Nuggets and Memphis Grizzlies, Sacramento’s margin for error may be very slim.
Maybe the Kings could make a midseason addition to bolster their protection, however till then, it’s arduous to think about Sacramento serving as something greater than first-round fodder.
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