How early college question spurred chip on Murray’s shoulder originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
Kings rookie Keegan Murray knows what it’s like to overcome doubt.
Once an unranked recruit out of high school, his hard work saw him earn a scholarship to the University of Iowa and eventually go No. 4 overall in the 2022 NBA Draft.
He outplayed the three players drafted before him to become the 2022 NBA Summer League MVP, but he still has a chip on his shoulder thanks to those who have questioned him over the years.
Murray isn’t shy about the fact that he still feels like he has something to prove — he often describes it as a “chip on his shoulder” — and he explained to Kings social media manager Jonathan Bradley why that is during a recent interview featured on the team’s YouTube channel.
It turns out there was one moment that inspired it all.
“I think it’s just from the people that I feel like have doubted me my whole life,” Murray told Bradley. “When I got to Iowa, the first question I was asked by a reporter was, ‘Are you a walk-on?’ So that just fueled me even more.”
Murray went on to become one of the nation’s most prolific scorers at Iowa, where he was the only college player on record to finish a season with 60 dunks and 60 3-pointers. His versatility led to him being drafted with the Kings’ lottery pick, where his skills have translated so far.
“I feel like my hard work — I never knew when it was going to work out for me,” Murray told Bradley of the doubt he has faced. “But I knew if I worked hard, something would turn out good. It just so happened to be a couple years later.”
Murray has helped ignite hope in a Sacramento franchise that hasn’t seen the NBA playoffs in 16 seasons.
RELATED: Spears predicts Murray wins ROY on playoff-bound Kings team
The Kings have faced their fair share of doubters over the years, and their 21-year-old first-rounder knows exactly the kind of work it takes to overcome that kind of skepticism.
It looks like Murray ended up in the perfect place at the perfect time, chip on his shoulder and all.
