The Kingdom welcomes the No. 4 overall pick with justification on their decision.
Following draft night, Monte McNair, the general manager for the Sacramento Kings, spoke to media regarding the decisions that transpired when time was on the clock and beyond.
Taking the No. 4 overall lottery pick in Iowa Hawkeyes wing Keegan Murray, McNair doubled down on how the 22-year-old ‘became unanimous’ amongst Sacramento’s front office due to his ability to defend and stretch the floor:
“I think we’ve been consistent as we’ve talked about what we want to do, especially in the draft, and our approach is to pick the best player available, add to our team and use all our assets in the best way we can to make the team better now and going forward.”
Despite controversially passing on the No. 5 overall pick, and now Detroit Piston, Jaden Ivey, who did not work out with the Kings or formally speak to them during the pre-draft process, McNair doubled down and sasid that taking Murray with No. 4 overall was all but the master plan for Sacramento:
“We vetted every opportunity, explored all options, and I think we ended up in a positive place tonight. I think at the end of the day, with the fourth pick, after exploring all our options, we felt extremely comfortable that the best player available was Keegan Murray, and we’re extremely excited to welcome Keegan into the Kings family.”
McNair had no direct answer as to why Ivey was not selected, and again affirmed that Sacramento is more than “confident” with their decision.
Sacramento’s second round draft pick, G League Ignite shooting Jaden Hardy, was traded to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for two future second-round draft picks. Additionally, Sacramento picked up Keon Ellis of Alabama on a two-way contract, and thus rounded out an illustrious process for the Kingdom.