Toronto Raptors rookie Collin Murray-Boyles just might’ve had his “welcome to the NBA” moment.
Facing the Houston Rockets on Tuesday night in Toronto, the team’s ninth overall pick from this past spring’s draft found himself matched against one of the NBA’s top veteran centres, Steven Adams.
“He’s insanely strong. My wrists are sore right now, trying to box him out and tussle with him. That’s impossible. His strength… I didn’t think it was like that. I couldn’t move him,” Murray-Boyles admitted.
In three NBA games so far, Murray-Boyles has averaged 10.7 points and two rebounds, while picking up two assists as well. But his averages haven’t exactly been created equal: he had zero points in his first contest, while putting up 19 points on Sunday against San Antonio, and 13 on Tuesday night.
In just three NBA games, the 20-year-old’s already gone up against Anthony Davis, Cooper Flagg, Victor Wembanyama, and Kevin Durant.
“These are all players that I watch, obviously, highly [accomplished] players, [who] have all the accolades. [Durant] has done everything in his career, but they’re still human at the end of the day,” Murray-Boyles said.
And while playing against stars with years of experience — save for Flagg — can be a humbling one for a young player, Murray-Boyles kept it light when trying to relate to his now-peers.
“They’re no different for me, [they] probably got more experience on me. But besides that, put on our underwear the same way,” Murray-Boyles said. “So just play them like they’re regular people, not try to get too stuck on the fame and what they’ve done. Just play basketball.”
The South Carolina product seems to have gotten the approval of his head coach in their short time together so far.
“I think what really stands out with Collin… [he] is fearless, and Collin is just going to go out there and give the best effort he can get. And I think that is the future of [the] NBA, like guys that can just play that way,” Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic said prior to Tuesday’s game.
While the youngster still has plenty of room for improvement before he can fully consider himself established in the NBA, the early returns look promising for both him and the Raptors.
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