Keegan Murray's injury could wreck Kings' already-shaky defense

The Sacramento Kings aren't exactly stocked with great defensive players. They'll be starting the season without their best one.

Keegan Murray had surgery to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his left thumb Monday, a procedure that will keep him out at least until he's evaluated again in four to six weeks. That means he'll miss the first 10 games of the season, if not more.

Keegan Murray is the most important defensive player on the Kings

Murray is one of the few plus-defenders on the Kings roster. The team has an undersized center in Domantas Sabonis, who led the league in rebounds but doesn't block shots (0.4 blocks) or defend on the perimeter. DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine have always been offense-first wings, and at ages 36 and 30, respectively, they're not getting quicker on the defensive end. New starting point guard Dennis Schroder has only had one NBA season with a positive defensive box score plus/minus rating.

That makes it difficult for the Kings to stop their opponents. Specifically, they gave up the highest three-point percentage in the NBA in 2024-25, yielding the third-most threes on only the 12th-most three-point attempts. Murray's the most agile big man on the Kings roster, which includes 33-year-old Doug McDermott, 31-year-old Dario Saric and rookie center Maxime Raynaud.

Without Murray, the Kings lack size and speed

With Murray out, an already-porous Kings defense gets even weaker. The 6-foot-6 DeRozan looks likely to start at power forward with LaVine at the 3, which puts the front court at a size disadvantage at all three spots. Expect the Kings to rely more heavily on zone defensive schemes to compensate for their lack of on-ball defenders, outside of guard Keon Ellis.

The Kings will have to play 10 games without Murray, and eight of them are against teams that were in the top 10 of made three-pointers last season — they play the Oklahoma City Thunder twice. If Murray misses six weeks instead, that's another game against the Thunder and two more against the hot-shooting Minnesota Timberwolves (37.4 percent from long range in 2024-25).

It's brutal timing for Murray's injury and one that might leave the Kings trailing early in the competitive Western Conference. If the defense truly craters, the Kings could find themselves in a position to trade DeRozan or LaVine and focus their sights on 2025-26 instead.