The Sacramento Kings are officially zero and two after their tight preseason loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. With a score of 124 to 123, the Kings got close, but a loss is still a loss. Even worse, starter Keegan Murray was taken out of the game due to a left thumb injury.
Murray only ended up playing 16 minutes in the first half before being ruled out for the rest of the contest. Regardless, he was having a solid performance with nine points, five rebounds, one assist, and two steals in his limited time on the court.
There has been no announcement about the severity of the injury, so it may just be a cautionary move. The Kings don't have another preseason game until Wednesday, so he has time to recover. That being said, the coaches may want him to rest until the regular season begins.
Keegan Murray will hopefully be back soon
Murray is entering his fourth season with the Kings and has only missed 13 games over that time. He's usually quick to recover, so he should be ready for the regular season, if not the rest of the preseason. At the same time, the worst-case scenario has to be considered.
If this injury turns out to be something severe, Murray could be riding the bench for a few weeks. Naturally, this will impact the starting lineup with Isaac Jones likely moving into power forward to cover for him.
The other side of this is bench players and rookies getting more minutes in the preseason. Murray's position on the team is solid, so an extended absence could create more opportunity to put newer players on the court and run them through their paces.
No Murray update isn't a good thing
So far, there has been no official word on Murray. That isn't necessarily a good thing. Depending on the severity of the thumb injury, the Kings could be sending him for testing to check on what kind of damage has been done.
Hand-related injuries can be a serious issue, particularly when they happen to the digits. Murray plays right-handed, though he is ambidextrous. As such, a minor injury to his left thumb will hopefully not negatively impact his game in the long term.
In the meantime, fans should not be surprised to see Murray sitting out the rest of the preseason. Even if the injury turns out to be relatively minor, there's no sense in taking the chance on making it worse and having Murray miss any of the regular season.