Fran McCaffery hearing NBA teams are ‘very interested’ in Iowa’s Kris Murray

IOWA CITY — Iowa men’s basketball coach Fran McCaffery has talked to a lot of NBA teams in the last couple weeks, and they seem to like what they see with Iowa’s Kris Murray.

“Obviously, they’re very interested and feel confident he’ll go in the first round,” McCaffery said Thursday evening. “I’m thrilled for him.”

Recent mock drafts are in line with McCaffery’s comments.

ESPN’s most recent mock draft, published Wednesday, projected Murray to go 26th to the Indiana Pacers. NBC Sports projected Murray to go 19th to the Houston Rockets a few weeks ago.

McCaffery believes Murray will be “a consistent player for a long time in that league.”

“He’s as complete of a player as I think you’re going to find,” McCaffery said, “not only in terms of ability and skill set, but character and maturity.”

Murray was named a co-recipient Thursday, along with forward Filip Rebraca, of the program’s Chris Street Award, which recognizes the athlete “who best exemplify the spirit, enthusiasm, and intensity” of the late Iowa basketball player.

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