Kings F Keegan Murray out for 4-6 weeks with torn UCL in left thumb, will miss start of season
Murray suffered a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his left thumb during a preseason loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday night, the team announced Sunday afternoon. Murray will undergo surgery in the near future and will be evaluated again in four to six weeks.
If Murray remains out the full six weeks, he may be eligible to return for the Kings’ matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Nov. 24, the team’s 18th game of the season.
Murray averaged 12.4 points and 6.7 rebounds last season, his third in the league after the Kings took him with the No. 4 overall pick in 2022. He has missed just 13 games in his entire career due to injury. The former Iowa standout is entering the final year of his initial four-year, $36.3 million contract with the franchise, and is eligible for an extension this month. If Murray and the Kings can’t get a deal done, he will enter restricted free agency next summer.
The 25-year-old has been a reliable piece in the Kings’ starting lineup for the past three seasons, and will presumably play a major role in the team’s effort to return to the postseason, something they’ve only done once in the past two decades. The Kings went 40-42 last season and ended up firing coach Mike Brown. The team eventually promoted interim coach Doug Christie to replace him permanently.
The Kings will open the regular season on October 22 against the Phoenix Suns. It’s unclear who will take Murray’s place in the starting lineup in the meantime, though Christie experimented with rookie Maxime Raynaud at the position Sunday, according to the Sacramento Bee. The Kings took Raynaud with the No. 42 pick in the draft earlier this summer out of Stanford, where he averaged 20.2 points and 10.6 rebounds per game.
“In our league, big two, we’re starting to see a lot of it, so that’s one of the things I think you have to look at,” Christie said. “Max is a talented player. This is the preseason, so getting him out there and getting him those types of reps is more what matters. We have a couple other options in the next few days that we’ll post.”