The Portland Trail Blazers have gone about their rebuild in a somewhat unconventional way, landing the majority of their key building blocks via trade rather than through the draft. Overall, they haven't necessarily struggled in the draft, but there are a few picks that they should want to take back.
Yang Hansen and Rayan Rupert come to mind. But it seems premature to definitively declare a 20-year-old Hansen a bust after playing just 16 games. Meanwhile, the opportunity cost of missing on Rupert isn't steep considering he was Portland's No. 43 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft.
With that being the case, a middle ground of someone with a large enough sample size and a higher opportunity cost with a first-round draft pedigree is none other than forward Kris Murray.
Kris Murray is turning into a draft bust for the Blazers
Portland took the Iowa product with the No. 23 overall pick in 2023, and he simply hasn't returned value. In retrospect, that was a brutal draft for the Blazers, who missed on all three of their picks -- Scoot Henderson, Murray, and Rupert -- to some extent. Not exactly an ideal way to start the post-Damian Lillard rebuilding era.
To Murray's credit, this season is likely the best he's played. Now in Year 3, he's the type of role player teams typically covet with his ability to impact winning without the ball through defense, rebounding, and intangibles.
But for a former first-round pick, it's still not good enough.
As a result of Portland's injuries, Murray has played a career-high 25.6 minutes per game. Yet he's only averaging 5.8 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 1.2 assists despite the increased opportunity.
The most concerning aspect of his game is his shooting. Murray has connected on only 25% of his three-point attempts this season, showing no improvement in that area since entering the league. Remind you, Murray is already 25 years old after spending three seasons at Iowa.
He's just not a good fit for a Blazers team that currently ranks second-worst in three-point efficiency and is set to finish in the bottom five in that department for the third consecutive year.
At 6-foot-8, Murray's positional size and versatile defense should be enough to stick around in the league. But in terms of returning value as a former first-round pick, he's unfortunately coming up short.
The sooner Portland's front office realizes this draft mistake and that Murray is a poor fit, the better.