Kings coach Mike Brown says Keegan Murray’s potential is ‘barely scratching the surface’

It’s only been the start of his sophomore year and Keegan Murray just posted a career-high 47 points in his Kings’ 125-104 win against the Jazz this weekend. The Sacramento forward dropped 11-consecutive three pointers and set an NBA record for largest-shooting streak beyond the arc in a single game.

The 23-year-old also became the youngest athlete to ever make 12 shots from the deep in the same match. His coach Mike Brown believes the second-year player is just starting to open his wings and fly through the NBA hoops as he did this Friday against Utah. 

“I thought Keegan was playing the right way,” said the Sacramento trainer. “There was nothing really forced. Our guys didn’t really force anything to him. They just hit him when he was open.”

All 12 of Keegan Murray’s 3s last night pic.twitter.com/TYxnDEpErR

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“He’s just barely scratching the surface because he’s been asked to do something that he’s never been asked to do at the highest level. With his work ethic, his determination, his skill set and all that other stuff, he’s gotten a chance to be a high level player in a lot of different areas. Everybody’s just seeing a little bit of it now so there’s a ton of room to grow for sure,” he added.

Murray, on the other hand, said he felt like he was back playing in his last year playing for Iowa State, which saw him become 2022’s fourth overall pick in the draft after dominating college basketball.

“It kind of reminded me of my last year in college,” said the rising star. “I’d get hot and I would just blackout for a little bit, and so everything would just go in. That’s kind of what happened in the third quarter.”

The Kings now return to Sacramento to host the Washington Wizards on Monday night, as they currently stand fifth (15-9) in the Western Conference.

The sophomore silenced trade rumors around him after his historic performance against Utah 

Before Murray exhibited the best game of his young career, rumors started to surround the Sacramento camp suggesting that the sophomore would be among the expected in return if Toronto decided to open trade negoatiatons for stars like O.G. Anunoby or even Pascal Siakam. 

Once the game was over, The Sacramento Bee’s Jason Anderson reported that Keegan is considered a foundational piece of the franchise’s future and are not considering trading him off any time soon. “Nah, I mean I had no idea. I don’t really care about records and stuff like that,” the player said. “They’re cool and all, we got the team win which was the biggest thing. They just kept feeding me the ball because I had the hot hand, so kudos to my teammates, they were big in everything I did tonight.”

The 23-year-old finished his career night for the franchise shooting 16 for 23 from the field and 12 of 15 from the deep. He reflected on what it means to him to start writing his name in the Kings’ history books. 

“I mean it’s big, there’s a lot of great players who have played and put on this Sacramento uniform. So just being able to just put my name with those is a great feeling,” Murray shared. “I know that later on, I’ll realize how special it is, and in the moment I know it’s special. So just being able to be with those names is big.”