Keegan Murray
Keegan Murray is the Kings’ future, and a lot depends on his development. The team has needed a 3-and-D wing for quite a while now, and Murray seems to be the answer.
His shooting is not as great as it was last season and he has had some very quiet games lately. Nevertheless, he has visibly improved. Offensively, he is doing so much more now than hitting catch-and-shoot threes. He is putting the ball on the floor and attacking the rim.
His biggest improvement has come on the defensive end, however. Over just one summer, Murray turned into the Kings’ best defender. Guarding star players while also being expected to grow offensively is a lot to juggle and considering that, Murray has fared well despite some inconsistencies.
Grade: B
Kevin Huerter
The first few weeks of the season were rough for Kevin Huerter. He struggled to hit his three-point shot, was seen as a defensive liability, and lost his starting spot to Chris Duarte for a while.
Since then, he has found his footing and had some good games, but there are still nights on which he struggles to have an impact. His three-point percentage and scoring are down, and he often gets blown by on defense. Other times, however, he gets his hands into passing lanes and competes on both ends of the floor.
Huerter is integral to the Kings’ offensive success and his struggles from beyond the arc have hurt the offense at times. Constantly being mentioned in trade talks couldn’t have been easy, so, hopefully, Huerter will play well now that the trade deadline has passed.
Grade: C-
Harrison Barnes
Harrison Barnes does not have an easy job with the Kings. In the starting lineup, he is last in the offensive hierarchy and has to impact the game with few touches. In many games this season, he was very quiet on both ends of the floor but had a great stretch in late January.
The Kings were struggling, so Coach Mike Brown turned to his veteran, gave him the ball, and let him work. Barnes responded with two 30-point games and seven games with double-digit scoring since then.
Fans love to hate on Barnes, but he is the best option the Kings have at his position right now. He just needs to eliminate the games in which he takes only three shots in over 20 minutes while the Kings are losing (which happened four times this season already).
Grade: C+