Kris Murray: 2023 NBA Draft Scouting Report
With an unassuming and quiet personality, is Kris flying under the radar as a sure-thing in a draft filled with one-and-done wild cards?
He’s just…good.
I keep finding myself saying this about Kris Murray, the Iowa Hawkeyes latest high-volume scorer to find himself as a draftable prospect. Kris is 22 and will turn 23 before he plays in his first NBA regular season game. He’s a full four years older than some other first-round prospects, and that could scare teams off from taking him inside the top 20 in this year’s draft.
I’m not sure if it helps or hinders Kris, but he does have a twin brother currently playing in the NBA. Keegan Murray, the more productive college player of the two, went fourth overall and is playing with the Sacramento Kings, a rookie starter shooting 40% from 3-point range on a playoff team. That’s a major accomplishment and is more likely to happen when drafting a 22-year-old rookie.
Kris has a different game. While Keegan was jettisoned to the perimeter and turned into a floor-spacer, he was much more well-rounded off the bounce in college. Kris doesn’t have the same explosion or wiggle off the bounce, and therefore will be more reliant on the 3-point stroke to see the floor. He’s a slightly less toolsy defender (especially as a helper) than his twin as well.
But seeing what Keegan has done as a rookie and how projectable he is as a career role player could do wonders for Kris this year. Similarly, Kris is a mistake-free driver and handler with insanely low turnover rates. He has a nice-looking jump shot, is efficient near the basket, and knows how to play without the ball. There are real similarities here, even if Kris doesn’t have the same high-end impact or well-rounded game as Keegan.
It might sound lazy, but the ideal role for Kris to fill is actually the one his brother is currently playing with the Sacramento Kings. 64% of Keegan’s shots came from behind the 3-point line, he was seldom used as a creator with the ball in his hands, and shot 43.4% from the corners.
While the role projection feels like the easy part, figuring out how and where to value Kris next to the rest of this class is where things get difficult. He has a quiet personality, sneaky athleticism, and an overall unassuming game. It’s easy to overlook the value of having a classic spot-up, long-armed wing like him and feel like those guys are really replaceable. In reality, they are not — and the rarity of finding high-end 3-and-D pieces should help Kris remain a valued first-round name throughout the pre-draft process.
Offense
As we’ve seen with Keegan, the role played at Iowa is different than the one in the NBA. What Kris will have in terms of mismatch post-up opportunities should entirely disappear. That will really change how he gets to the basket in terms of usage, and rim finishing is an important (and complicated) part of properly nailing the Murray eval.
The numbers are very strongly in his favor, shooting 66.1% at the rim. Kris is left-handed and pretty much only likes to go to his left, but is strong and broad-shouldered enough to get to his spots a fair amount. He needs to continue to be a ‘two dribbles or less’ guy who makes simple plays only.