So You've Drafted Kris Murray: A New Team's Guide

Former Iowa forward Kris Murray has been drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers with the 23rd pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. He joins twin brother Keegan Murray in the NBA, a year after Keegan's successful rookie season with the upstart Sacramento Kings.

But what sort of player is Portland getting with this late first-round draft pick? Here's everything you need to know.

It's reductive to call Kris Murray a carbon copy of Keegan Murray (or really, mirror image — Kris is left-handed, Keegan right) just because they're identical twins, but the two are more alike than not, both in styles of play and in appearance.

Kris Murray, like Keegan, is a 6'8" combo forward with an accurate, consistent shooting stroke and the physique for interior play and finishing at the bucket. Kris averaged 20 points, 8 rebounds and a pair of assists per game for the Hawkeyes this past season, and was one of just three players in NCAA men's basketball to finish the season with 200 rebounds, 60 three-pointers, 30 blocks and 30 steals.

Kris' development from an unheralded high school prospect to the first round of the NBA Draft also mirrors Keegan's, except behind by a year; where Keegan went from "super sixth man" to "star scorer" to "first-round pick and immediate NBA contributor" from the 2020-21 to 2022-23 seasons, Kris is looking to complete that final step this coming season.

If that trajectory continues to hold true, Kris will not only work his way into the Blazers' rotation as a rookie, he'll help raise the team's standard of play as it makes a playoff push.

It's not hard to see what NBA scouts like about Kris Murray. At a combine-certified 6'8" and 225 pounds, Murray has pro-level size and athleticism. His shooting stroke is quick, compact and consistent, and he has the footwork and strength to finish at the rim against larger defenders. As a defender, he has a 6'11" wingspan and stays consistently engaged; his left-handedness gives him an unorthodox angle on contesting shots as well.

Murray achieved his success as the focal point of one of the most efficient offenses in college basketball last season, and he rarely makes poor or overly ambitious decisions on either side of the floor. Like his brother, Murray's low mistake rate should make him more attractive for a quick rotation spot on a contender, where there's far less room for playing through mistakes as a rookie.

Murray shot 34% on three-pointers last season, often leading the team in volume from deep, and was a very efficient scorer on the interior (60% on two-pointers in Big Ten conference play) as well. Murray also improved his free-throw shooting from 65% to 73% year-over-year, and that can be the difference between being on the floor at the end of a game or not.

That combination of size, shooting and defense means Murray can spread the floor and open up space for elite creators like Damian Lillard and Scoot Henderson without sacrificing size in defensive matchups. If Kris can be as reliable as Keegan on catch-and-shoot opportunities, his spot in the Portland rotation should be well within reach.

For all this talk of similarity, of course, it has to be mentioned that Kris went 19 picks later in the draft, and the gap between 4th and 23rd is more notable than that between, say, 40th and 59th. And there aren't many glaring differences between the two on the court; Kris just wasn't quite as dominant as Keegan.

Kris was a third-team All-American; Keegan was 1st. Kris averaged 20.2 points per game, Keegan averaged 23.5. Kris led Iowa to an 8-seed; Keegan led Iowa to a 5. Are these important distinctions between prospects if they're not brothers? Maybe, maybe not.

And because Kris was slightly less productive than his brother, his reputation as a competitor wasn't quite as strong. As one anonymous Big Ten coach told The Athletic ($) in February:

"You need to be physical with Kris Murray. I wouldn’t say he’s soft, but you can’t let him be comfortable."

That's an accurate assessment. Murray's production slid substantially in Iowa losses, especially against tough defenses — but also even in areas that should even out over the course of a season. This includes free throw shooting, where he made 77% in wins and 65% in losses, and three-point shooting where the percentage dips from 40% to 25%. He will need to — and probably will — improve his consistency at the next level.

Some of the reputation is also temperamental, of course; Kris is only slightly more demonstrative on the court than his comically even-keeled brother. Picture Tim Duncan, but with less arguing about fouls with officials. That lack of outward intensity lends itself to being seen as "less competitive," even on a player like Kris who has never dogged it on the court.

Is it fair? Probably not. But it may come up, especially if he starts slow.

Sacramento Kings forward Keegan Murray.

If Kris is indeed not quite the player his twin brother is, then it makes sense that the two's career arcs will continue to diverge as pros. With that the case, we can look at one of Keegan's NBA draft comparisons from last season: pre-injury T.J. Warren.

Warren is a combo forward with inside-outside scoring ability, including a pair of seasons shooting better than 40% from deep before a stress fracture in his left foot led to a 23-month absence that his career has yet to bounce back from.

Awful injury luck aside, Warren's flirtations with a 20-point season average in both Phoenix and Indiana would be a welcome goal for Kris Murray — and if Kris' averages stay lower on deeper, more playoff-ready teams, few would complain about that trade-off too.

As mentioned earlier, Kris and Keegan are sons of former Hawkeye star Kenyon Murray, who came to Iowa from Battle Creek, Michigan in the early 1990s. Kris is named after his father's teammate, Chris Street, who tragically perished in a car accident during a star-making junior season in 1993.

Street is now the namesake of an annual Hawkeye team award awarded to the "player who best exemplifies the spirit, enthusiasm and intensity of Chris Street." Appropriately, Kris shared the award with Patrick McCaffery this past season, while Keegan shared it the year prior with Connor McCaffery.

Both Murray twins have been exemplary representatives of the University of Iowa on and off the court, and there's every reason to expect that high character to continue through sizeable NBA careers for both.

Congratulations to Kris Murray and the Portland Trail Blazers, and may this be the first of many red-letter days in Murray's pro career.

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