Kings’ Keegan Murray leaning on De’Aaron Fox to help avoid any sophomore slumps

Sophomore slumps don’t usually affect accurate 3-point shooters as severely as other players.

The last five rookies to lead their class in made 3s (Buddy Hield, Donovan Mitchell, Luka Dončić, Kendrick Nunn and Saddiq Bey) have avoided those slumps. On average, these sharpshooters expanded their offense to the tune of an increased 3.4 points per game from their rookie to sophomore seasons.

Sacramento Kings forward Keegan Murray’s introduction to the league included a seven-game playoff series against the then-defending champion Golden State Warriors as a starter. That level of success in your first NBA season could lead to two outcomes: complacency or improving to get better. Murray is looking to take the latter path.

And what better way to combat a sophomore slump than to spend your first NBA offseason with a player who was third in the NBA Most Improved Player voting during his second year?

Murray’s teammate, De’Aaron Fox, finished behind Pascal Siakam and D’Angelo Russell for that award. Fox recorded a significant jump in points per game, rebounds per game and 3-point percentage between his first and second seasons. Now Murray has all of Fox’s knowledge and experience at his disposal to enter next season prepared.

“I’ve been with him every single day so far this summer,” Murray said after practice. “We play one-on-one three, four times a week so that’s helped me a lot in different areas on the court.”

His work was on full display Monday night at the California Classic when he dunked, connected on a 4-point play and made another player stumble – all in the first quarter. Murray also dropped 13 of his game-high 29 points in the first quarter, shooting 4 of 6 from the field and 2 of 2 from the 3-point line.

Kings assistant coach and summer-league head coach Luke Loucks has been vocal all offseason about Murray’s development, and Monday’s performance was just a glimpse of the player he wants Murray to blossom into. The 2022 summer-league MVP’s most recent performance made Loucks reflect on a scrimmage when Murray dominated.

“Everyone could feel how good (Keegan) is,” Loucks said after leading his team to its first win of the summer. “After the scrimmage, obviously that’s something we expect from him at this level of summer league and it’s something we’re pushing him to do.

“One of the scouts pulled me aside and said that’s the closest thing I’ve seen to what I just saw was Kawhi (Leonard) in Year 2 … the step from rookie season to holy smokes, this guy could be exceptional.’”

Murray will look to expand on his momentum and continue to explore different areas of his game in his second NBA Summer League. Seeing his name on Sacramento’s summer-league roster may have come as a surprise to some after the rookie campaign he just had, but Murray is hungry to hoop.

During his first postseason action, the 22-year-old took 0.3 shot attempts from 5 to 9 feet, 0.6 attempts from 10 to 14 feet and 0.7 attempts from 15 to 19 feet. He did the majority of his work on the perimeter. By the playoffs, he was comfortable being driven off the 3-point line and showed a feel for creating more off the dribble. But there’s still plenty of room for improvement in the consistency and efficiency of that style of play.

The summer league will be the perfect place for him to fine-tune new tools in his bag.

“Keegan has taken a step, to me, in all areas — defensively, his aggressiveness, his scoring,” Loucks said. “Last year, he was incredible, NBA All-Rookie Team, all of his awards were well deserved, but he didn’t have a lot of wiggle. I told him he needs to go salsa dance.

“There just wasn’t a lot of wiggle to his game or his personality. He just walked into Baskin-Robbins and it was all vanilla. And it was still ice cream so it was good. But he’s finding a little bit of wiggle, he’s finding that confidence. He’s throwing some sprinkles on.”

The Kings already had the same lineup that brought them to the postseason for the first time in 17 years before free agency began last week. Fox, Kevin Huerter, Harrison Barnes, Murray and Domantas Sabonis should round out the first five for the second straight season.

It’s no secret that Sacramento is relying on Murray’s growth to contribute to the overall advancement of the team. He’s taking full advantage of the summer-league opportunity.

“He could be back home working out,” Loucks said. “He wants to play. He wants to get better. I think the whole organization knows (Keegan) is going to have to take the next step for us to take the next step, so he’s here doing it.”

In a sense, Murray is getting to see what life is like for Fox, and Fox’s leadership qualities have already rubbed off on his younger teammate.

“Keegan, emotionally, has taken a huge step and we’re going to need him to,” Loucks said. “Fox has done an unbelievable job being a big brother to (Keegan), and those two working together, to me, is pretty special.”

The bond between Fox and Murray was always apparent, but it seems as though it’s growing deeper this summer. Their All-NBA teammate Sabonis had been more demonstrative in his affection and style of leading with Murray, and now it looks to be Fox’s turn to take over a bit and bring Murray along in the offseason.

Loucks was sure to mention Murray has even sat in Fox’s seat during film sessions.

“It’s been cool to be around Keegan and to see his work ethic,” said rookie Jalen Slawson, who was the Kings’ No. 54 selection overall in the draft. “Every time I’ve been in the gym, he’s been in here. He doesn’t have to play in summer league with us, he doesn’t have to scrimmage against us.

“Keegan’s going to be fine when the season rolls around. … The fact that he’s here, instilling what bit of wisdom he has into us and making us better, we’re all truly appreciative of that.”

Murray seems eager to build on his historic rookie season by leaving his mark on summer league, although he’ll likely only play a handful of games. Sacramento is hoping Murray, who hit more 3s than any rookie in NBA history last season, helps shift the culture of its younger players by getting them to utilize the summer league for all it’s worth.

“Playing in the playoffs, starting as a rookie, it’s easy for me to just say ‘no’ and just carry on with my summer,” Murray said. “But we just want to establish, as an organization, being able to play in summer league and look at it as a good thing. I was on board with it, Mike (Brown) was on board with it — the whole coaching staff. I think it’s a cool thing he’s established.”

Among all rookies last season, Murray was sixth in points per game and ninth in rebounds.

With his height (6 foot 8) and length (6-foot-11 wingspan), the sky’s the limit for Murray, and he appears ready to succeed in Year 2. But he’s taking it a day at a time and veterans like Fox are keeping him level-headed. Especially when Murray has gone winless against Fox in their daily one-on-one battles.

“I’ve gotten very close,” Murray said in an unsuccessful attempt to hold back a smile. “But I can’t say I’ve beat him.”

(Photo of Keegan Murray and De’Aaron Fox: Rocky Widner / NBAE via Getty Images)