First-year man Keegan Murray will play his first official NBA game at a later date.
Per Sacramento Bee’s Jason Anderson, the standout rookie from Iowa will take a seat on the Sacramento Kings’ season opener against the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday.
Murray remains under health and safety protocols as cleared out by head coach Mike Brown.
“Keegan is still in protocol, but he’s getting better,” Brown told reporters.
Murray splendidly came out blazing for the Kings in the preseason while coming off the bench, averaging a team-high 16.0 points while shooting a red-hot 70.6 percent from the field and 70 percent from 3-point distance.
But he missed the team’s last two preseason games due to an illness. Eventually, he was placed to the league’s health and safety protocols.
“A guy that’s out that long, I would not have him play without practice, but there’s zero pressure at all,” Brown said about this year’s No. 4 overall pick. “We want him to come back the right way. We play 82 games, and if he misses one, if he misses two, whatever it is, we’ll be fine, so there’s no pressure there.
“We just want him to go through protocol the right way and make sure he’s concentrating on relaxing and getting his rest and getting his mind right before coming back.”
