Thanks to the Golden State Warriors finally re-signing Jonathan Kuminga, it's become more likely that the Sacramento Kings will sign Keegan Murray to an extension of some kind. Murray is going into the last season of a four-year contract and will be a restricted free agent next summer.
Much of this summer was taken up by the contract standoff between the Golden State Warriors and Kuminga. While money is always an issue in any discussion between teams and players, the bigger issue for Kuminga is minutes and a stable position. Only time will tell if that issue is solved.
The Kings were in the mix the entire time as Kuminga's preferred landing spot if things didn't work out with the Warriors. There were attempted trades that included Malik Monk, though the rumors were that Golden State would prefer a trade for Keegan Murray.
That wouldn't have made much sense for the Kings, as the goal would have been to team up Murray and Kuminga. Still, none of that ever came to pass, and the two players remain on their respective teams. With the Kuminga talk behind them, the Warriors now need to focus on retaining Murray.
The Kings will extend Keegan Murray
There has been a lot of conversation about Murray's potential as a member of the Kings' roster. So far, that hasn't led to much on the court. It's hard to blame Murray for that. An unstable front office and an unbalanced roster make it incredibly difficult for a young player to develop.
Now, the hope is that with Doug Christie clearly in charge and a relatively stable, though still unbalanced, roster in place that the Kings can put some real effort into maximizing Murray's potential. Frankly, that's going to be necessary for the Kings to succeed going forward.
For that to happen, the Kings need to lock Murray down sooner rather than later. They have several contracts to deal with this coming offseason, and Keegan needs to be a priority. He could easily be the future of the franchise, a core member of the team they should be building around.
Kuminga still could end up involved in a trade of some kind before the deadline in February, possibly even with the Kings. But Sacramento cannot be distracted by that. If it happens, great. For now, they need to lock in on Keegan Murray and lock him down for their future.