Keegan Murray knew the Kings were more than just a playoff team before the 2022-23 NBA season began.
Speaking with Kayte Christensen and Mark Jones on "Kings Postgame Live" after Sacramento's 120-80 win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday at Moda Center, Murray explained how coach Mike Brown gave his team the confidence to aim higher.
"Yeah, Mike Brown, he's a championship coach," Murray said. "He's won multiple rings and he knows how to get it done.
"He knew that inside our locker room, we were much more than a playoff team, and we all knew that from the start so any expectations that anyone had on us, we had more expectations."
Preseason projections had the Kings sitting anywhere between the 10th and 12th seeds in the Western Conference, certainly nowhere close to being considered a contender.
With six games left in Sacramento's season, the Kings are a top-four seed and are showing no signs of slowing down.
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After defeating the Trail Blazers, the Kings officially snapped their 16-season playoff drought after 17 long years.
Murray chipped in -- as he has throughout the season -- with 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field. He also nailed three 3-pointers to shatter Donovan Mitchell's rookie record for most 3-pointers made by a rookie in NBA history with 188 and counting.
With the Kings preparing for the playoffs, Murray gave credit to those that laid the foundation for this iteration of the Kings and those working behind the scenes.
"It's just the effort that a lot of our front office has put in throughout the years, just the people that have been here," Murray explained. "We've had really good teams, I think, throughout that 17 years and I think this one exemplifies all of them.
"So it's really cool to be on this team, we're all excited but we know we have a lot more to do."
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While Sacramento prepares for its first playoff series in over a decade, Kings fans will continue to rejoice knowing their team is on the rise, potentially en route to a long run into June.
And Murray knows that making the playoffs is just the start.