Five-year contract! High salary of 140 million! What is the King betting on?

Before the official start of the new season, the Kings dropped bomb news one after another:

First, they reached a one-year short contract with Westbrook, and then the team announced the completion of a five-year, 140 million contract extension with Keegan Murray.

The management plan of the Kings management is still a bit elusive. Are they rebuilding or guaranteeing the bottom line? After all, from the perspective of player potential, Murray is not the kind of star who can make waves at a glance. But frankly speaking, although it is not up to the level of a star, it is at least the kind of core rotation that should not be abandoned.

But the question is, is this 140 million bet based on mutual trust, or is it a forced choice that conforms to the inertia of the times?

Looking at the list of the 2022 rookie echelon, Murray is the sixth first-round pick to renew his contract in advance, and the fifth rookie to get a full five-year contract. In front of Murray are three top-paid players, Banchero, Holmgren, and Jaylen Williams. These three are also the core faces of the future team.

As for Murray's five-year 140 million contract extension, the overall amount is similar to the Rockets' renewal of Jabari Smith Jr., which basically belongs to the second echelon. From this perspective, the King's signing is indeed a bit conservative. In today's era when salary caps are rising more and more outrageously, locking players in advance has almost become standard for every team.

Especially after this year's restricted free agent market has been a mess, most teams are afraid of losing their potential players in vain.

Objectively speaking, Murray's career is actually quite impressive. In his rookie season, he was able to contribute 206 three-pointers, breaking the NBA rookie record in one fell swoop. In his second year, he went even further, averaging 15.2 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1 steal and 0.8 blocks per game, steadily evolving towards a high-quality 3D forward.

But in the third year, something suddenly went wrong.

As the team's tactics changed, and after many transactions and the redistribution of ball rights, his performance began to decline, and his scoring average gradually returned to the level of his rookie year. What's worse is that his field goal percentage also plummeted, with his three-point shooting percentage falling from 41% to 35.8%, and then to 34.3%, and his effective field goal percentage also dropped from 58.4% to 53.8%.

Overall, he is still improving, but the speed of progress seems to be far from expected.

From the perspective of playing style, Murray's style of play is a team style that focuses on offensive support. He is not a ball-holding forward. Once he is allowed to hold the ball a lot and participate in offensive decisions, it will be difficult to be compatible. His more advantage lies in fixed-point shooting from outside the three-point line. But the problem is that if the league currently wants to win a 140 million contract, it seems that it is not enough to just serve as the offensive connection point for the team.

As the fourth pick in the first round of 2022, Murray was already 22 years old when he was drafted and was a standard older rookie. Now he is 25 years old before his rookie contract is over. Compared with other high-ranking rookies in the same echelon, Banchero and Smith Jr. are only 22 years old, and Holmgren is 23 years old. This also means that Murray is close to the mature stage on the growth curve, and the room for further growth in the future is really limited.

This aspect has also caused many doubts:

"Is this contract offered by the Kings really worth it? Will it become a premium contract in the future?"

From the perspective of the Kings, of course they know what the future holds. Risk, but compared to the premium contract, they are more afraid of missing out on future potential. The team has already sent away Fox before. Currently, the 36-year-old DeRozan, the 29-year-old Sabonis, and the 30-year-old LaVine are still on the team. However, these players are currently mid-term transition candidates.

The current Kings urgently need a future backbone who "doesn't steal the show but can perform stably", and the young Murray can just fill this position.

Judging from the current growth progress, Murray's greatest value currently lies mainly in defense, with obvious shortcomings on the offensive end. But fortunately, he plays for a team that has been weak defensively for a long time, and his attributes of strong offense and weak defense have become hard currency. Whether he is facing the opponent's mobile frontcourt or chasing the outside scorer, Murray can kill his opponent.

Excellent wingspan, stable offensive pace, and the value of one person defending multiple positions. Such attributes are almost a universal template in the modern NBA.

Combined with the development template of starting from defense early in his career, people such as Bridges and Leonard have risen in this way. Although we cannot fully expect him to grow into Leonard's top offensive and defensive level in the future, if he can play steadily in the King's environment and steadily improve his offense in the future, we do not rule out that he has the opportunity to become the second Bridges.

Therefore, from a development perspective, this five-year, 140 million contract is also a bet for the Kings. If he can break through, then this price will be a high-quality price; but if he eventually stops at the current level, he will at least be a qualified defensive asset. Even if the Kings choose to trade in the future, it will still be a high-quality bargaining chip.

From the perspective of team management, the Kings are actually very smart. Renewing Murray's contract is neither a breakthrough nor a clear failure, and it firmly puts control in the hands of the next few years. The team is currently still below the luxury tax line, and this contract extension will not affect the team's salary structure. By 2027, the contracts of DeRozan, LaVine and others have expired, and the Kings can completely light up and start again.

The most important thing is that this signing gives Murray enough security, and at the same time leaves himself leeway. Considering the contract farce between players and teams in recent years, this choice is really a rare win-win.

Looking to the future, the challenges Murray needs to face in the next few years are very realistic:

Can he grow from a deputy to a core force worth relying on?

To a certain extent, the answer to this question also determines the future destiny of the king to a large extent..

He needs to continue to stabilize his defense while trying to find his own rhythm on the offensive end. He does not necessarily need to break out every game, but he must let the Kings see the progress of his growth. When the Kings offered this big contract, their expectations for him were naturally not limited to the blue-collar 3D level, but also for him to step up at critical moments.

In general, this is an experimental bet in which neither party bets big, but bets very seriously.

It’s done, even if the king has a discerning eye, if they lose, they can guarantee their losses.