Keegan Murray, the standout rookie of the Sacramento Kings and the Las Vegas Summer League MVP, has undergone offseason wrist surgery on his shooting hand, reports James Ham of The Kings’ Beat.
This doesn’t sound too serious, which is good for the Kings and their fans. There has been no formal announcement from Sacramento about the surgery yet.
The Kings selected Murray with the No. 4 pick and at Summer League he showed why — he is a player better suited to help Sacramento win now and make the playoffs this season than Jaden Ivey, the consensus fourth guy on the board but a more raw point guard. Murray averaged 24 points and 6.3 rebounds a game, shooting 37% from 3. Watching Murray in Vegas, he simply knows how to play the game. He moves off the ball and has a natural feel for where he can find spaces in the defense, plus he can create his own shot (at least against Summer league defenses).
What he brings to the table is shown on his 3 that forced overtime against the Magic — he had a natural feel for where to be, created the space he needed, and when defenders closed hard on him as the clock ran down he calmly pump-faked and got the shot he wanted. He didn’t look like a rookie.
It’s easy to see Murray running dribble handoff sets with Domantas Sabonis in the halfcourt or running the floor with De’Aaron Fox in Sacramento. If the Kings break their 16-year playoff drought, Murray will play a key role in that as a rookie.
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Kings rookie Keegan Murray reportedly has minor right wrist surgery originally appeared on NBCSports.com
