Former Iowa Star One of NBA's Most Puzzling Players

This former Iowa Hawkeyes star has been one of the NBA's most frustrating players this season.

Feb 8, 2025; Sacramento, California, USA; Sacramento Kings forward Keegan Murray (13) after a three point basket against the New Orleans Pelicans during the third quarter at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images / Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images

Former Iowa Hawkeyes star Keegan Murray was widely viewed as a potential breakout candidate heading into the 2024-25 NBA campaign, but if anything, the Sacramento Kings forward has taken a step back this year.

Or, at the very least, Murray's growth has stagnated.

Now in his third NBA season, the 24-year-old is averaging 12.2 points and 6.8 rebounds over 34.5 minutes per game on 44.3/33.4/82.5 shooting splits. He owns a true-shooting percentage of 54.9 percent, which is a career low. He is also logging a career-worst .083 win shares per 48 minutes.

Murray was expected to elevate his all-around efficiency this season, especially after the Kings added DeMar DeRozan last summer. But if anything, the acquisition of DeRozan has hindered Murray and has placed him into somewhat of a confusing role.

Now, to be fair, the Iowa product had a solid February, posting 13.5 points per game while shooting 48.2 percent from the floor and 40.6 percent from three-point range. His uptick in efficiency has continued on into the early stages of March, as well. So maybe Murray is turning things around.

However, Murray's inconsistency has been maddening. For example, in spite of his recent resurgence, the Cedar Rapids native has still peppered three single-digit performances throughout the last month, including earlier this week when he scored six points in a loss to the Denver Nuggets.

I understand that those types of nights happen sometimes, but they have been far too frequent for Murray in 2024-25, as he has registered 16 single-digit showings this season. What's worse, he has only scored 20 points four times, compared to 15 times all of last year.

Perhaps Sacramento's roster shuffling (it also recently traded De'Aaron Fox and landed Zach LaVine) has been a bit much for Murray, who was also forced to change positions thanks to the addition of DeRozan last offseason.

But generally, star players excel no matter what, and it's beginning to look like Murray is simply not in that category.

There is obviously still plenty of time for Murray to prove everyone wrong, but at this point, it appears that the Hawkeyes legend is nothing more than a good role player, and that is not what the Kings expected when they took him with the fourth overall pick of the 2022 NBA Draft.

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