NBA

Can Collin Murray-Boyles Thrive In The NBA?

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Lucas Kaplan
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Lucas Kaplan Sports Editor

Lucas Kaplan, a lifelong hoops addict, has been a credentialed reporter covering the Brooklyn Nets and New York Liberty for three seasons apiece. He joins the Basketball Insiders team as an insightful league-wide analyst, bringing X's and O's expertise as well as a background in NBA Draft scouting to the table. Once taunted Jerry Stackhouse after making a clutch free-throw at his summer camp.

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Updated22 mins ago on July 09, 2025

Collin Murray-Boyles, Toronto Raptors

Courtesy of Bart Torvik’s NCAA database, here is every individual season by a teenager (since 2008) with a 25 percent usage rate, 60 percent true shooting, 20 percent assist rate and a six percent stock (block + steal) rate: Collin Murray-Boyles, South Carolina, 2024-25.

That’s the whole list.

Collin Murray-Boyles is 6 feet 6 inches with a 7-foot wingspan. He is a bulldozer who doesn’t make jumpers yet, but did everything he could for an overmatched Gamecocks squad that finished 2-16 in a stacked SEC during his sophomore season. He finished with the nation’s fifth-highest box plus-minus (BPM), our best all-in-one stat for evaluating NCAA hoopers.

Predictably, we nerds love him. Even on one of the weakest Power 5 teams in basketball, his all-around production was undeniable. Over at Swish Theory, a dozen of my colleagues ranked him as the No. 3 2025 NBA Draft prospect in a composite board. The aptly named databllr did the same.

Yet, ESPN’s Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo ranked him 13th, then mocked him to go 15th, saying some NBA decision-makers “harp on his limited positional size and lack of perimeter shooting, and the way those two factors limit his projectable ceiling.”

On Draft night, Murray-Boyles landed right in the middle, going ninth to the Raptors. In Toronto, he will be one of the NBA’s most fascinating young players. Just how far can strength and feel take an undersized forward in a league governed by physicality and high-level decision-making?

A Defensive Game-Wrecker

Let’s start with the fun stuff. Murray-Boyles is a joyful defender who will bring awareness, strength, effort and hand-eye coordination to the court on day one of his NBA career.

Drivers will not be able to easily bump him away; in fact, he brings the force to them by putting his chest into opponents at the point-of-attack. He’ll likely pick up some blocking fouls out on the perimeter early in his career, but attacking him will require more finesse and explosion than most players his size have.

While he may stand under 6 feet 7 inches, do not worry about his ability to guard up. Nobody is driving through him. Rather, if he’s asked to guard smaller, more explosive talents, he may have trouble sliding through screens and preventing jump-shooters from creating space.

The real defensive sell, though, is he’ll wreak havoc no matter who his matchup is. Offenses cannot pass the ball into the paint if he’s in the same zip code:

Murray-Boyles is not the greatest leaper in this rookie class, which may have led some teams to doubt his ability to be a true force in the paint. Jalen Williams, the best wing-sized rim protector drafted in recent memory, does not just have a monster wingspan but is also a great vertical athlete, and you’ll see him pin shots near the top of the square.

Vertical explosion isn’t among Murray-Boyles’ strengths. Despite his robust block rate, he’d occasionally miss out on blocks he was theoretically in position for. All these plays are from the same game:

And yet, courtesy of databallr, opponents shot a staggering eight percent worse at the rim when Murray-Boyles was on the floor last season and took four percent fewer of their shots there. Both differences are above the 90th percentile for any NCAA player’s on-offs.

He had a weak squad around him, to be sure. But let’s put this more simply: Really, really bad things happen for offenses when this guy is lurking. Not just in the paint, but anywhere the ball is; it’s no wonder offenses can’t get to the most valuable area of the court when he’s on it.

Here are four of my favorite plays Murray-Boyles made in his sophomore season. They all showcase accurate hands, fantastic anticipation and multiple efforts (except for that last play, which was just too cool to exclude from this article):

Will His Offense Hinge On Outside Shooting?

It’s tough to buy the “limited positional size” concerns when Murray-Boyles is that smart, strong and long defensively, Aside from the impressive stock numbers, he also posted a top-20 defensive rebounding rate in Power 5 hoops.

The “lack of perimeter shooting,” though, may be genuine cause for discomfort. Over two years at South Carolina, he shot 9-of-39 from three and 69.7 percent at the line, though made marginal improvements from his freshman to sophomore season. Without ruling out the possibility of major improvements to his jumper, how can a 6-foot-6 NBA player overcome such a deficiency? After all, it’s tough to make a case for Murray-Boyles as a top-10 prospect if we’re banking on a massive shooting improvement.

But at South Carolina, he was one of the best drivers in the game. Per Synergy, on 3.2 drives per game, he scored 0.922 points per possession. For reference…

If he gets his shoulder into the defender, it’s over. He will be a nightmare to guard on empty side rolls in the NBA, and though he only wants to finish with his left hand, his touch is undeniable. Per Bart Torvik, he shot 70 percent at the rim…

All this occurred despite him being blocked on eight percent of his shots, which tied the highest mark by any 2020 lottery pick. There is not much he can do about a lack of vertical explosion that allows some big men to simply out-jump him, but increased comfort finishing with his right hand would do him well.

The South Carolina native can also create high-value looks with his passing, whether on drives or cuts/rolls to the rim:

It wasn’t a perfect decision-making season for Murray-Boyles, who jumped from the team’s third-highest usage rate during his freshman campaign to the unquestioned leader of the offense. Though improved footwork and strength allowed him to score more efficiently, posting 77 assists to 78 turnovers doesn’t scream “high-level playmaker,” even without much surrounding talent.

But again, we have to ask if we’re missing the forest for the trees here. South Carolina’s rim attempts increased by nearly 13 percent with him on the court last season while its accuracy improved by 10 percent as well. It would be tough to find more staggering on-off splits in any category.

Questions abound, but it’s tough to say Murray-Boyles won’t put pressure on the rim as a pro. Despite turning 20 just before the Draft, he may be the strongest incoming rookie and can attack in a variety of play-types. Defenses may not respect his jumper but the SEC didn’t either.

The NBA Is Trending His Direction

Murray-Boyles is entering an NBA increasingly valuing his skill-set. This is one of the biggest reasons to believe in the stat-sheet stuffer.

We just witnessed the physically toughest NBA playoffs in recent memory, crowned by an absolute slugfest between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers, which often hurt just to watch. Every screen was a quick grappling session, bodies were constantly on the floor and drives to the rim often looked like an inside draw between the tackles.

Murray-Boyles will thrive in this environment.

“My superpower is my strength. I feel like that’s something that puts me in a good position; it helps my defensive prowess,” he told me shortly before the Draft. “The strength I play with on both ends has helped me become a versatile player on both ends, it’s helped me guard a lot of different players. Every attribute that I have is attributed to me being a strong player.”

Likewise, efficient decision-making has never been more important for the vast majority of NBA players who don’t handle the ball on every possession. Even if Murray-Boyles isn’t creating the advantages with the ball in his hands, he’ll be able to make the right extra pass or drive through a weak spot in the defense, though this is where an improved jumper will make his life easier by tenfold.

Ultimately, he should shine next to better offensive talent. He is active in the dribble-handoff game from the top of the key, and it’s easy to imagine him and Gradey Dick forming a lethal two-man combination off Toronto’s bench…

No, the Toronto Raptors don’t profile as the ideal fit for Murray-Boyles. He doesn’t have a ton of outside shooting to play with; defensively, Toronto doesn’t seem to have a roster suited for a ton of schematic versatility. But if Murray-Boyles is the player we nerds believe him to be, roster construction will be but a bump in the road. He knows where to be and if his opponent is trying to get there first, he’ll dispatch them with a shoulder or hip.

Thanks to his strength, awareness and motor, Murray-Boyles shouldn’t just fill up box scores in the NBA, but become one of the funkiest, most delightful watches in the league. I can’t wait.