Torn ligament! Keegan Murray is injured, will the Kings sign Westbrook?

According to official news from the Kings, the team's starting forward Keegan Murray has successfully undergone left thumb ligament repair surgery in New York. He currently has no specific return time and is expected to re-evaluate the injury in 4-6 weeks.

Keegan Murray's injury occurred in the last game against the Trail Blazers. At that time, he only played less than 16 minutes, making 4 of 7 shots, scoring 9 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal.

Injury occurs at this point near the start of the regular season, which is very bad news for both Keegan Murray and the Kings.

Keegan Murray is the fourth pick in the first round of the 2022 class. He was nearly 22 years old when he was selected. He is an older rookie. Like many older and high-ranking rookies, Keegan Murray performed very well in the first year of his career——

Played in 80 games, started 78 games, averaged 29.8 minutes per game, scored 12.2 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.2 assists, shooting 45.3% from the field, 41.1% from the three-point range, and 59.7% from the field.

In addition to his outstanding personal performance, Keegan Murray also helped the Kings return to the playoffs after 17 years. He was naturally trained by the Kings as their future core.

However, to be honest, Keegan Murray's progress has not met expectations.

In his sophomore season, although his statistics improved, averaging 15.2 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game, his efficiency dropped a lot. While the number of three-point attempts remained almost unchanged, his shooting percentage dropped to 35.8% and his true shooting percentage also dropped to 56.9%.

Last season was even worse, with the scoring average regressing to 12.4 points per game, the three-point shooting percentage continuing to drop to 34.3%, and the true shooting percentage being only 55.3%. The team also missed the playoffs for two consecutive years.

In fact, the reason why Keegan Murray was so amazing in his rookie season was because he showed outstanding shooting ability at the same position. At that time, he made 206 three-pointers with a shooting rate of over 41%, setting a new three-point record for rookies in NBA history.

In addition to three-pointers, Keegan Murray has good size, mobility, and defensive switching abilities. His disadvantage is that his ability to develop with the ball is weak, and most of his scoring depends on assists from his teammates. Therefore, he is regarded as an elite-level 3D forward with certain secondary attack capabilities. He should be positioned as a quasi-All-Star and the second and third core of the team.

However, in the past two seasons, Keegan Murray not only failed to develop a better ball-handling offense, but his three-point shooting rate has also continued to decline. This has also led to his continuous reduction in offensive roles, so that last season, the number of shots per game even ranked fifth on the team.

Although the Kings have stated many times that Keegan Murray is not for sale, during the offseason, the Kings did not renew Keegan Murray’s contract in advance. In comparison, three players with higher picks than him in the same draft, Benqueiro, Holmgren, Jabari Smith Jr., and 12th pick Jaywe, have all signed contract extensions ranging from 100 million yuan to the maximum salary.

So, the upcoming new season should be a crucial year for Keegan Murray, not only to prove that he is still an elite 3D forward with potential, but also to get a bigger contract.

Being absent from the opening stage, especially if he suffered an injury such as a finger ligament injury, may have some impact on his shooting.

The slightly better thing is that Keegan Murray only missed 13 games in the first three seasons of his career, so he should not cause any anxiety about injury risks for the Kings.

At this point, many fans will probably think of the same thing: Since Keegan Murray is injured, has Westbrook's opportunity come?

I won’t go into details about the offseason scandal between Westbrook and the Kings. The latest news, Shams reported: Westbrook and the Kings have a strong interest in each other. Westbrook has extensive connections in the Kings management and he is waiting to reach an agreement with the Kings.

Westbrook definitely still has gas in the tank. He was the sixth man on the Nuggets team last season and performed well against the Clippers in the first round of the playoffs - 7 games, averaging 13.8 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game, shooting 43.3% from the field and 41.9% from the three-point range.

But objectively speaking, are Westbrook and the King really compatible? Is he the player to replace Keegan Murray? The answer is probably no.

Judging from the two preseason games, the Kings' starting lineup for the new season is likely to be Schroeder + LaVine + DeRozan + Keegan Murray + Sabonis Jr. This lineup can probably only defend Schroeder and Keegan Murray, and only Murray is specific.

Looking at the substitutes, the Kings are a team that is very lacking in strikers. The only ones who can take up the same position are Saric (who was nothing in the Nuggets last season), Doug McDermott (averaged 8 minutes per game last season), and Eubanks (who doesn't fit well with Sam).

On the contrary, their defenders are seriously overflowing. There are Monk, Ellis, Devin Carter, Clifford and others on the bench. Therefore, the Kings may really not need Westbrook.

In the most ideal situation, the Kings should trade Monk, replace him with a striker of the same level as Keegan Murray's substitute, and then sign Westbrook. However, the Monk transaction has not progressed, which has led to Westbrook's joining the Kings.

Finally, back to Keegan Murray. He was really amazing in his rookie season, but both the Kings and Keegan Murray themselves seem to have stagnated in the past two seasons. Murray has even regressed. It is expected that after his return, he can prove himself again and strive for an ideal contract.