The Portland Trail Blazers are entering the 2024-25 season with an extremely deep roster. Almost all players on their team are talented enough to see substantial minutes. That's one of the benefits of their rebuilding approach, which involves stockpiling young assets and adding the best available players to the roster. Despite fitting their rebuilding timeline, there's one player in particular who shouldn't see minutes this upcoming season, and it would be in Portland's best interest to cut ties with him entirely.
The Blazers need to move on from Kris Murray
The Blazers selected Kris Murray with the No. 23 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. During his junior season at Iowa, Murray averaged 20.2 points, 7.9 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.2 blocks, and a steal per game on 48/34/73 shooting splits. He earned Third Team All-American honors as well as First Team All-Big Ten honors that year.
Because of that productive season, as well as his age and experience, Murray was widely viewed as one of the more NBA-ready prospects in that draft class. But he had a disappointing rookie season with the Blazers, averaging 6.1 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 1.3 assists in 21.7 minutes per game, which was plenty of opportunity to showcase why he deserved to belong on Portland's roster.
The most concerning aspect of Murray's rookie reason was his inefficiency, particularly from three. Murray shot 39.6 percent from the field and 26.8 percent beyond the arc. Besides his perceived ability to make an immediate impact, part of what made Murray a first-round pick was his potential as a 3-and-D wing, a highly coveted skillset. While he'll improve with more reps and experience, Kris' rookie year suggests that it's unlikely he will ever be a league-average three-point shooter.
Three-point shooting is one of the Blazers' most glaring needs, as they finished dead last at 34.5 percent last season. Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe need the floor to be spaced in order to attack the rim and utilize their athleticism. And the Blazers already have enough to worry about, with four centers on the roster clogging the paint. Keeping Murray around certainly won't help solve this major issue.
The Blazers have such a deep roster that they will eventually have to make tough decisions regarding who to keep around, which is an excellent problem to have. But Murray should be the first to go. The Blazers should have let him fall to the Sacramento Kings at pick No. 24 to be with his twin brother, Keegan.