Kristopher James Murray (born August 19, 2000) is an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player for the Portland Trail Blazers of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA). He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the

Iowa Hawkeyes The Iowa Hawkeyes are the athletic teams that represent the University of Iowa, located in Iowa City, Iowa. The Hawkeyes have varsity teams in 22 sports, 8 for men and 14 for women; a 15th women's sport will be added in 2023. The teams partici ...

of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

from 2020 to 2023. He was first-team All-Big Ten in his final year with the Hawkeyes. He is the twin brother of basketball player Keegan Murray, who plays for the Sacramento Kings.

Early life and high school career

Murray grew up in

Cedar Rapids, Iowa Cedar Rapids () is the second-largest city in Iowa, United States and is the county seat of Linn County, Iowa, Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River (Iowa River), Cedar River, north of Iowa City, Iowa, Iowa City and north ...

and attended Prairie High School, where he played basketball with his twin brother Keegan as a teammate. He was named first team All-Metro and second team All-State after averaging 19.5 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 2.5 blocks, and 1.1 steals per game. Following graduation, Murray and his brother enrolled at DME Academy in

Daytona Beach, Florida Daytona Beach, or simply Daytona, is a coastal Resort town, resort-city in east-central Florida. Located on the eastern edge of Volusia County, Florida, Volusia County near the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic coastline, its population ...

for a postgraduate year. Both brothers committed to playing college basketball for

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

College career

Murray played in 13 games, all off the bench, and 41 total minutes as a freshman for the Iowa Hawkeyes. As a sophomore, he averaged 9.7 points and 4.3 rebounds over 35 games with one start. Following the end of the season, Murray entered the

2022 NBA draft The 2022 NBA draft (branded as the 2022 NBA Draft presented by State Farm for sponsorship reasons), the 76th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual draft, was held on June 23, 2022, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The ...

after his brother had already done so. He ultimately withdrew his name from the draft shortly after declining an invitation to the NBA Draft Combine. Murray entered his junior season at Iowa on the watchlists for the

Karl Malone Award The Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award is an annual basketball award given by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame to the top men's collegiate power forward. Following the success of the Bob Cousy Award which had been awarded s ...

and the

John R. Wooden Award The John R. Wooden Award is an award given annually to the most outstanding men's and women's college basketball players. The program consists of the men's and women's Player of the Year awards, the Legends of Coaching award, and recognizing the ...

. He averaged 20.2 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 2 assists per game and was named first-team All-

at the end of the season. Murray was also named a third-team All-American by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

United States Basketball Writers Association The United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) was founded in 1956 by National Collegiate Athletic Association director Walter Byers to serve the interests of journalists who cover college basketball. Scholarships The USBWA annually awa ...

, and the ''

Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

''. After the season, he entered the 2023 NBA draft, where he was selected 23rd overall by the Portland Trail Blazers.

Professional career

Portland Trail Blazers (2023–present)

Murray was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round of the 2023 NBA draft with the 23rd overall pick.

Career statistics

College

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, 35 , , 1 , , 17.9 , , .479 , , .387 , , .645 , , 4.3 , , 1.1 , , .8 , , .9 , , 9.7 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

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Personal life

Murray's father, Kenyon, was a 4-year starter for the Iowa Hawkeyes from 1992–1996, and was high school Mr. Basketball in Michigan in 1992. Kris's twin brother Keegan was a top 5 pick in 2022 draft and currently plays for the Sacramento Kings. Kris was named after the late

Chris Street Christopher Michael Street (February 2, 1972 – January 19, 1993) was an American college basketball player. He played as a power forward for the Iowa Hawkeyes from 1990 to 1993. A potential NBA player, he died in an automobile crash during ...

References

External links

Iowa Hawkeyes bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, Kris 2000 births Living people All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball players from Iowa Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball players Portland Trail Blazers draft picks Portland Trail Blazers players Power forwards (basketball) Sportspeople from Cedar Rapids, Iowa