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Twin brothers Keegan, Kris Murray swap jerseys after first NBA meeting

cody taylor
·3 min read
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Twins Keegan Murray and Kris Murray faced off for the first time in the NBA when the Sacramento Kings hosted the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday.

Keegan and the Kings picked up the 121-118 victory in overtime to improve to 3-4. He produced nine points, seven rebounds, three assists, two blocks and one steal in 31 minutes of work in their first of three games against the Trail Blazers.

Kris made just his third appearance of the season in the contest. He logged nine minutes and recorded one block during his time on the court, which came, as fate would have it, against his brother.

“He is going to hear about it at Thanksgiving,” Kris said.

Heading into the matchup, there was some uncertainty whether Kris would play. He is outside the rotation, but with the team dealing with injuries, Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups turned to him.

Kris is a guy we believe in, and have high hopes for him and our future. It was just his turn, and it just so happened that he was playing against his brother, so, of course, I’m a coach that has a heart, and I wanted that to be a special moment for him and his family.

The contest on Wednesday was the first time Keegan and Kris have squared off against each other at any level of basketball. They have been together at every stop of their careers, with the two most recently teammates in college at Iowa.

Their parents, Kenyon and Michelle, were at the Golden 1 Center to witness the matchup. Watching them play each other was nerve-wracking, Kenyon said on NBC Sports California.

“Obviously, I wanted to support both of them,” Kenyon said, wearing a Trail Blazers shirt under a Kings zip-up hoodie. “My wife was a little more of the neutral girl tonight, but it was fun. I think it is just part of the story. For them to be able to be here and have the opportunity to not only play in the NBA but to play against each other was really cool as a family.”

The twins played two seasons together with the Hawkeyes before Keegan left to become the fourth pick by the Kings last year. He was named to the NBA All-Rookie first team and set the all-time 3-point record by a rookie in a season (206).

Kris was a consensus third-team All-American last season and was the only player to average at least 20 points, seven rebounds and one block with at least 65 3s. He was drafted 23rd by the Trail Blazers, one spot ahead of the Kings.

They were nearly reunited again, too.

After the draft, Brian Windhorst of ESPN reported the Kings were interested in drafting Kris to pair with Keegan. With their player off of the board, the organization ultimately traded their pick to gain cap flexibility.

The past year was, essentially, the longest they have been apart from each other. They linked up over the summer and trained together before the draft before Kris joined the Trail Blazers.

Despite the distance between them, they still keep in contact daily.

“We talk every day, regardless of if we’re playing against each other or not,” Keegan said, via Sean Cunningham of Fox 40. “We communicate and FaceTime every single day. Usually, we don’t even talk about basketball stuff. We talk about life and stuff like that.”

Story originally appeared on Rookie Wire