Keegan Murray Makes Hawkeye History

Iowa Basketball Star Highest NBA Draft Pick Ever in Program

Iowa's Keegan Murray (15) shoots the ball over Michigan State's Malik Hall (25) during their game on Feb. 22, 2022 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa. (Rob Howe/HawkeyeNation.com)

The amazing story of Keegan Murray added an important chapter Thursday night. The lightly-recruited forward from Iowa was chosen by the Sacramento Kings with the No. 4 overall pick in the NBA Draft.

Murray is the highest draft pick in Hawkeye history, besting Downtown Freddie Brown, who the Seattle Sonics snapped up with No. 6 pick in 1971. Rick Davis was Iowa’s last first-round pick, way back in ’97, the 21st overall pick to Charlotte.

Coming out of Cedar Rapids (IA) Prairie High, Western Illinois was Murray’s lone Division I offer. He and his twin brother, Kris, an Iowa junior, instead chose a post-graduate year in Florida. They grew physically and expanded their games, leading to scholarship offers from Hawkeye coach Fran McCaffery.

Keegan Murray served as a rotational piece as a freshman two seasons ago on a veteran team with national player of the year, Luka Garza. This past winter, he broke out to lead the Big Ten in scoring (23.5 PPG) and was a first-team consensus all-American.

Murray joins a team in need of help. The Kings are riding a 16-year streak of not finishing above .500 with the last playoff appearance coming in '05-06. 

De'Aaron Fox, 24, led Sacramento in scoring last season at 23.3 points per game. It also employed two other young, talented players in Domantis Sabonis and Davion Mitchell.