The Portland Trail Blazers have a Kris Murray problem on their hands after they selected him with the No. 23 pick in the 2023 draft. His rookie season wasn't promising, and his second season left even more doubt, causing fans to seriously doubt his future with the team.
Murray shot 26.8% from three on an average of three attempts per game as a rookie. His three-point percentage dropped last season (yes, it got worse), as he shot 22.5% from deep on an average of 1.7 attempts per game.
His three-point shooting has to improve if he wants to have a future in Portland — or with another NBA team.
It's Murray's biggest weakness by a mile, and it will hold him back until it changes. It's an area of his game he should've spent a chunk of his offseason focusing on. Murray's confidence on the offensive end overall needs work, but if his three-point shot starts falling (more than at a 22.5% rate), that will be a confidence booster in itself.
Kris Murray desperately needs to become a better shooter
The Trail Blazers accelerated their rebuild this summer by trading for Jrue Holiday and signing Damian Lillard. The star point guard won't play until the 2026-27 season, and he'll try to do what he set out to when he was drafted in 2012 — win a championship in Portland.
The 2025-26 season will be the prime time for younger players like Shaedon Sharpe and Scoot Henderson to take the next step, preparing for what's to come as the Trail Blazers push for a title with Dame. If Murray's shooting doesn't change, he'll remain on the outside looking in.
That isn't to say his continued development isn't important (he made strides on the defensive end last season!), but the bottom line is that you can't have that bad of a shooter on the floor. Chauncey Billups knows that. Everyone knows that.
It doesn't matter what the Kris Murray believers think his potential is. As of right now, he isn't part of Portland's promising young core.
He could start to change that as soon as a few weeks by improving as a shooter, but it's not realistic to believe he'll have the kind of breakout season that the Trail Blazers need to see. The next several months will be telling for Murray, perhaps not in the way he, or any Portland fan, is hoping for.