Why Is Collin Murray-Boyles One of The Most Divisive Prospects in the 2025 NBA Draft?

Despite being one of college basketball’s most impactful players, Murray-Boyles remains one of the most controversial prospects ahead of the 2025 NBA Draft.

Murray-Boyles is hands-down one of the best defenders in the class. A rare combination of perimeter switchability and physicality allows him to be the ultimate disrupter, both on and off the ball. He has true All-Defensive team upside…but it’s his offensive skill set that creates questions about his NBA success.

Murray-Boyles spent the last two seasons under the tutelage of head coach Lamont Paris at The University of South Carolina, where he made an immediate impact as a freshman, leading the Gamecocks in blocks, steals and rebounds, while only playing the seventh most minutes per game. Murray-Boyles' impact and production was especially impressive, considering South Carolina went 26-8 and returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017.

As a sophomore, Murray-Boyles stepped into a “workhorse” role, leading the Gamecocks in points, rebounds, blocks, steals and was just .7 shy of leading them in assists. While he shined in a high-usage role, Murray-Boyles was the lone bright spot on an underachieving Gamecocks squad that finished 12-20 and 16th in the SEC.

Freshman Season: 22.8 min - 10.4pts - 5.7reb - 1.8ast - 1.0blk - 1.0stl - 59.7 FG%

Sophomore Season: 30.6 min - 16.8pts - 8.3reb - 2.4ast - 1.3blk - 1.5stl - 58.6 FG%

While his statistical improvement was impressive, it’s his ability to maintain nearly the exact scoring efficiency despite seeing a 6.2 ppg boost, that is most noteworthy.

At-The-Rim Scoring

Despite standing just 6'7, Murray-Boyles primarily scores at the rim and does so rather efficiently. He dominates the “easy” stuff, converting in transition at 71.9% and finishing putbacks at 63.6%. For a player who will likely never be a primary or secondary option, it's critical he can leave a scoring impact without teams having to forcefully scheme him into scoring opportunities. Murray-Boyles scored 20.78% of his points out of post-ups, relying on his freakish 7 ¾ foot wingspan and bruising 240 pound frame to create space and get his shot over or around taller defenders. Out of post-up’s Murray-Boyles shot 52% but there were some underlying inefficiencies, as a result of his lack of ambidexterity. It’s no secret Murray-Boyles likes to get to his left hand over his right shoulder and it's clear statistically, shooting 54.8% on the left block (17/31) and only 32% on the right block (8/25). When the defense pushes him to his right hand, he often twists his body to align himself with the basket, creating a highly contested and off-balanced shot; he only attempted 11 right handed shots out of post ups, compared to the 40 left handed post-up attempts. Despite it being a main catalyst for his production at South Carolina, when faced with the size of NBA defenses, Murray-Boyles post-ups won’t translate into a high volume shot unless he is attacking mis-matches.

Which raises the question: How does a player find success in the NBA when their main offensive weapon won’t translate at a high-level?

The answer is that Murray-Boyles role and responsibilities will see a significant shift upon entering the NBA, as he transitions from an on-ball workhorse to an active off-ball player.

Off-Ball Scoring

Plenty of ball-dominant college players struggle when their roles are scaled down to fit NBA offenses but Murray-Boyles is perfectly situated for this jump given the variety of off-ball roles he played as a Gamecock. He is already an excellent pick and roll partner, rolling to the basket with intention and his wingspan allows for a ridiculous catch radius. Unlike most “bigs” he can make split-second decisions as a roller, allowing him to playmake and keeping the offense flowing with timely passes. Murray-Boyles naturally seeks out physicality, especially when he has downhill momentum, his frame and body control allow him to embrace contact in mid-air and still finish at the rim.. To generalize, great things happen when Murray-Boyles is able to get momentum going down hill, when he rolls to the basket he finishes at an impressive 70% and at 74.3% when he cuts to the basket. His ability to generate efficient off-ball scoring opportunities will translate seamlessly to the NBA.

Midrange & Perimeter Scorer

While his off-ball role is perfectly scalable for the NBA, floor spacing remains one of the biggest questions when projecting Murray-Boyles offensive impact. When asked to score away from the basket, where he can’t rely on his physicality and touch, his efficiency drops significantly. He was underwhelming as a jump shooter, only shooting 30.4% (14/46), but what was most concerning was his inability to hit open shots. While Murray-Boyles will not be asked to self-create as a jump shooter, for the sake of floor spacing at the NBA level, he will need to knock down open looks, something he struggled with at South Carolina, shooting 28% on unguarded catch and shoot jump shots. Something we even saw during the NBA combine.

(Video via DraftExpress)

The league is clearly emphasizing roster building around multiple floor spacers and good teams rarely have two non-shooters on the court simultaneously, although Murray-Boyles defense switchability and playmaking can off-set some of his floor spacing struggles. This year's NBA Finals are a prime example, every single player on the Thunder and Pacers starting line-up is a proficient perimeter shooter, although to be fair to Murray-Boyles, not all of them entered the league as such. Roster construction, team fit and intentionality in integrating Murray-Boyles into offensive schemes will be more crucial for Murray-Boyles then other players.

He shot 26.5% from three, 18.2% guarded and 30.4% unguarded on only 34 attempts the entire season. Murray-Boyles did see gradual improvement as a free-throw shooter from his freshman to sophomore season, going from 66.7% to 70.7%, a promising boost that his shooting touch is still progressing and there is potential for long term shooting development.

Isolation Drives

Murray-Boyles most impressive offensive trait was his ability to create downhill advantages on the perimeter and mid-range, despite being a poor shooter. He moved with quick fluidity for his size and has a surprisingly fast first step, regularly beating his defender off the dribble. Once Murray-Boyles got momentum downhill, he was rarely met with a defender that could match his length or power, although that will definitely change once in the NBA. In a perfect world, Murray-Boyles will be quick enough to beat big men off the dribble and strong enough to over-power small-forwards when he is able to get downhill.

Yet, I'm dubious that he will be able to get downhill against the NBA defenders without the ability to space the floor, especially if defenses sag-off him more aggressively and dare him to shoot.

While his defense should keep him on the floor even if he doesn’t become a league average shooter, I don’t see an future where his offensive outcome is impactful enough to warrant a top 10 pick. His shooting mechanics need to be re-built and his offensive growth may be stunted by his inability to space the floor and self-create scoring opportunities away from the basket. Still, Collin Murray-Boyles is an intelligent player and elite defender with a strong feel for the game, these players rarely fail in the NBA and have a knack for carving out long NBA careers.

Draft Capital: Late lottery

Draft Prediction: 10th-15th

High-End Outcome: High Feel Julius Randle

Median Outcome: Xavier Tillman