1 Thing Keegan Murray must improve to take the next step

Ever since the Sacramento Kings made the choice to draft Keegan Murray over Jaden Ivey (much to the chagrin of the NBA world) with the fourth overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, he has done nothing but reward them for their decision.

Year Two was especially promising, as Keegan Murray improved in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks per game. And even more importantly, Murray saw a massive improvement in his defense – going from being in the 33rd percentile in Defensive Estimated Plus-Minus (DEF EPM) as a rookie to being in the 90th percentile in the metric last season (per Dunks & Threes).

Add that in with the fact that Murray is 6'8, was in the 64th percentile in block rate last year, and he's a career 38.4% 3-point shooter, and you have a recipe for the functional size we talked about the Kings desperately needed.

Murray is already one of the better role players in the NBA. That is an awesome place to be. However, given the limitations of a De'Aaron Fox/Domantas Sabonis pairing (namely in spacing and rim protection), the Kings are going to need Murray to take another step forward if they plan on leaping the next hurdle with this core.

To take that next step, Murray is going to have to use this offseason to improve his handle. Being a big wing/forward who can shoot and defend at a high level is very valuable. But to go from a strong role player (like Mikal Bridges) to a legit All-Star caliber player (like Paul George), a player in this position needs to expand their handle in order to improve their on-ball creation ability.

(Sidebar #1: Remember, in a vacuum, on-ball creation is the most valuable skill a player can bring to the basketball court. As a result, it is extremely difficult to acquire.)

Unfortunately for Murray, he has a long way to go in this area. A strong indicator of a player's prowess as a ball handler is assist percentage. And last season, Murray placed in just the 13th percentile in this category. That's in the entire league, too. That means we are including rim-running big men in this calculus, making his placement in assist rate that much more concerning.

Murray has a long way to go before he's orchestrating a high volume of pick-and-rolls all on his lonesome, but improving in this area will be necessary if he hopes to evolve from a strong role player to a potential All-Star candidate.