Keegan Murray's 4th-Year Kings Contract Option Exercised for 2025-26 NBA Season
October 3, 2024
The Sacramento Kings picked up the fourth-year option for forward Keegan Murray on Thursday, via James Ham of The Kings Beat.
The option is worth $11.1 million and will keep Murray under contract through the 2025-26 season, per Spotrac.
The 24-year-old sharpshooter has developed into a key piece of Sacramento's rotation since he was selected with the No. 4 overall pick in the 2022 NBA draft, starting in 155 of 157 games throughout his budding career.
Murray earned the starting job in the third game of his career and never looked back. He averaged 12.2 points per game in his first year, while his 206 three-point shots represented a new single-season rookie record.
The former Iowa standout improved his scoring average to 15.2 points per game in his second season. He also averaged 5.5 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.0 steals each night on 45.4/35.8/83.1 shooting splits.
Murray's ability to space the floor is crucial for a Kings offense built around ball-dominant stars such as De'Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis. He hit 162 catch-and-shoot threes last season, the seventh-highest mark among all players in the Western Conference (via NBA.com).
The Kings have been protective of Murray in trade talks. Sacramento reportedly wasn't interested in adding him in discussions for stars such as Pascal Siakam and Zach LaVine ahead of the 2023-24 trade deadline.
Anthony Slater of The Athletic also reported that the Kings protected Murray in negotiations involving Utah Jazz star power forward Lauri Markkanen over the summer.
Sacramento ended up acquiring six-time All-Star DeMar DeRozan in a sign-and-trade agreement with the Chicago Bulls on July 6.
The wing duo of Murray and DeRozan will attempt to help the Kings bounce back from a play-in tournament loss to the New Orleans Pelicans last season.
Given his impressive individual production throughout the first two years of his career, it's easy to see why Sacramento exercised Murray's fourth-year option on Thursday.
