The Portland Trail Blazers have multiple up-and-coming players who could have breakout seasons in 2025-26, including Deni Avdija, Scoot Henderson, and Shaedon Sharpe. Unfortunately, one player Blazers fans shouldn't expect to take a leap is Kris Murray.
Blazers general manager Joe Cronin made roster moves this summer to clear the path for their young core. But that's not necessarily a good thing for Murray -- it could expose the fact that he's too much of an offensive liability to crack a rotation at the NBA level.
The Blazers selected Murray with the No. 23 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. His first two seasons in Portland haven't lived up to the expectations of a first-round pick. Last season, Murray averaged 4.2 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 1.0 assists, shooting just 22.5 percent from beyond the arc. The Blazers exercised Murray's team option for the 2025-26 season, hoping that he can improve offensively. He finished with an offensive rating of just 103.5, substantially below their other core pieces.
Kris Murray's offensive limitations aren't a good fit for Portland
The Blazers struggle in two key areas offensively: shooting and playmaking. Portland had 16 percent of its possessions end in a turnover last season, ranking 29th. They also shot 34.2 percent from beyond the arc, finishing 26th in that department. These issues will only worsen with combo guard Anfernee Simons now out of the picture. He had the best assist-to-turnover ratio on the team last season and shot 36.3 percent from deep on a high volume of 8.5 attempts per game.
Portland will have an elite defense next season with key pieces like Donovan Clingan, Avdija, and Toumani Camara. But Chauncey Billups must decide who to play alongside these defensive-minded pieces based on how much offense they can provide. From that standpoint, the floor-shrinking Murray may be the odd man out.
The Blazers are putting their young core in a position to thrive this upcoming season, and rightfully so. But they have an athletic young core that consists of players who are best when they get downhill and attack the paint. Having Murray's non-shooting presence out there defeats the entire purpose.
At 6-foot-8, he's a versatile wing defender who fits Billups' system well on that end of the court. But Portland is desperately going to need offense. Unless Murray improves his three-point shooting by over 10 percentage points, he should essentially be considered unplayable.
The silver lining is that the Blazers have a lot of other pieces ready to break out this season. But to bring that to fruition, they need to be surrounded by shooters. Because of that, it could be in Portland's best interest to move on from Murray sooner rather than later.