Kris Murray Reaching for NBA Dream

Iowa Forward Projected to Be First-Round Pick

Kris Murray went through the NBA draft process last season knowing he had the option to play another season at Iowa.

This time, though, Murray said there is one goal in mind.

“It’s to be able to get drafted this year,” Murray said.

Murray, speaking on a Zoom conference with Iowa media members, said knowing that he is off to the NBA and not coming back to the Hawkeyes has made the process different.

Now, after a season in which he was a first-team All-Big Ten selection and a consensus third-team All-American, Murray knows his stock is different from last season.

And, he said, he feels more prepared.

“I feel like this year I was able to show just a lot of different things in my game,” Murray said. “Just that I can be able to kind of take over games, kind of lead our team in different ways, whether that’s offensively, making a play defensively or just making the right play. So I think that's come a long way. My confidence obviously has just gotten a lot better this year.”

Murray averaged 20.2 points and 7.9 rebounds, both team highs, in helping Iowa get to the NCAA tournament.

Murray went through the process last season, and had he been a guaranteed first-round pick, he likely would have stayed in the draft. But he decided to return to the Hawkeyes, and thrived while his twin brother Keegan was having a solid rookie season with the NBA’s Sacramento Kings.

“I kind of knew that this year was going to be my last year and that I was going to enter the NBA draft,” Murray said. “But Keegan taught me a lot — seeing how he’s playing, hearing him tell me stories, things that he’s learned throughout the season. That’s obviously helped me.

“Going through this process with him last year helped me a lot, being able to watch him get drafted and go through the summer league and training camp and all of those things.”

The biggest thing he has learned from Keegan’s experience was identifying a role on a team.

“Keegan was really able to do that with the Kings, kind of carve out that role on his team and be professional in that role. I think the way he's carried himself the last year ever since he's been professional has been really admirable for him just because he treats it like a job, a job that he has fun with, and is excited to go to every single day.

“So that's kind of where I learned a lot about it. I know the skill set to be able to play in the NBA. It's really the mindset that you’ve got to bring in every single time because, in reality, people are fighting for their jobs, playing for a position and just fighting for success in their lives.”

Murray knows there will be comparisons to his brother’s game.

“I just think towards the end of the season, I kind of showed that I could be a little bit more of a playmaker,” Murray said. “I know that I can be. I will be coming off ball screens, making a play for others, just doing different things like that. So I think that's definitely a difference between us. Keegan is really good at catch-and-shoot — he's been playing his role. really well this year. But I think I can bring just a different element to an NBA team.”

Murray said he appreciated his three seasons at Iowa.

“It’s something I’ve dreamed about my entire life growing up in Cedar Rapids,” Murray said. “I mean, honestly, after my senior year (of high school), I didn’t know if I would play college basketball. I barely had many looks, many opportunities after that. So just being able to have this opportunity is really cool.”

Murray was named a co-winner of Iowa’s Chris Street Award during the team’s awards banquet last week, an honor that was emotional for him, considering he is named for Street.

“Mike and Patty (Street, Chris’ parents) come to a lot of our games, so it was really special,” Murray said. “They were able to be there to see (the award presentation) and we were at the same table, so it was really cool. My parents were getting really teary-eyed, Mike and Patty were a little bit, and it was really just a special moment between our families.”

Now, Murray is off to the NBA. The goal now, he said, is to sharpen his skill set.

“Just kind of take a step back, see the things I could get better at just little by little every single day,” Murray said. “It takes a complete game to be able to play in the NBA and have success. So that's kind of what I've been doing, just training like an NBA player.”