Sacramento’s players showed out in their first summer action.
Top-five pick Keegan Murray made one hell of a first impression during his Sacramento Kings debut at the California Classic on Saturday in San Francisco.
Murray was far and away the best player on the court, scoring 26 points on an efficient 10 of 14 from the floor while also grabbing 8 rebounds during his 28 minutes.
The Kings beat the Golden State Warriors, 86-68, but ultimately the biggest takeaway was just how good Murray was compared to everyone else on the court.
You don’t want to read too much into Summer League basketball, but Murray was tremendous, playing with such comfort and control. Murray sprayed in a mix of catch and shoot, off the dribble and face up game, illustrating his game beyond his years.
Keegan Murray is on FIRE here early in the 2nd half.
Good movement off-ball here gets him a clean look on a C&S 3. pic.twitter.com/3DRAkAWlGZ
— Kings Film Room (@SacFilmRoom) July 3, 2022
It will be interesting to see how the No. 4 pick Murray progresses, but Saturday was a terrific start to his career in Sacramento.
Another bright spot from this game for the Kings was the defense of both their two-way players, Neemias Queta and Keon Ellis, who showed why Sacramento inked them to deals.
Queta used his length to produce a couple of volleyball blocks on unsuspecting Warriors on Saturday night. Queta also showed some solid offensive moves, finishing behind Murray with 12 points on 6 of 11 shooting.
Ellis was consistently hopping passing lanes and just being an irritant to Warriors players for most of the game. Offensively, it was a different story as he finished with just 2 points and didn’t make a field goal.
Overall, the win over the Golden State Warriors was a solid start to the Summer League for the Sacramento Kings.
The team will be back at it in San Francisco on Sunday as they prepare to face off with the Miami Heat at 2 p.m. PDT.