This Sacramento Kings player spent thousands of dollars at Chick-fil-A this season

Golden State Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins (22) defends Sacramento Kings forward Keegan Murray (13) during the first half of Game 7 of an NBA basketball first-round playoff series, Sunday, April 30, 2023, in Sacramento, Calif.
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Now that the Sacramento Kings’ season is over, small forward Keegan Murray has been relieved of his rookie duty of fetching Chick-fil-A for his teammates.

While falling short to the Golden State Warriors in the the NBA playoffs wasn’t good news for the Kings, it’s good news for Murray’s wallet. He told reporters Monday that the errand cost him hundreds of dollars each road trip.

“I really just picked up Chick-fil-A every away game,” he said, according to Bleacher Report. “That was like $300 every single road trip, so that kind of hurt.”

The Kings played 44 away games this season, including the playoffs, and made 18 road trips, according to their schedule. A tab of $300 for every road trip adds up to $5,400 spent on Chick-fil-A this season.

Although that’s a steep price tag, those chicken sandwich purchases made only a small dent in the first year of his four-year $36,371,093 contract. He had a base salary of $8,008,440 this season, according to Spotrac.

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While $5,400 is no small number, Murray may have gotten off easy.

In 2010, Dallas Cowboys rookie Dez Bryant had to pick up the $54,896 tab at Pappas Bros. Steakhouse from a team dinner, ESPN reported. Originally only meant for the offensive players, veteran wide receiver Roy Williams invited the defensive players as well.

It was Williams’ version of payback when Bryant refused to carry Williams’ pads after practice, a common rookie hazing tradition.

ESPN’s Calvin Watkins reported that one player at the dinner said Cowboys owner Jerry Jones picked up the tab. He also reported that some of the veterans helped pay and while on KRLD-FM, Jones said the steakhouse took some of the liquor off of the bill for an “enormous” rookie dinner, which Watkins assumed was Bryant’s.

Some of the biggest names in the NFL have been known for running up a rookie’s bill for a team dinner. On a 2022 episode of “The Pivot Podcast,” former NFL running back Fred Taylor said Tom Brady would buy a “three, four, five thousand dollar bottle of wine” that he would only take one sip of before retiring for the night, according to CBS Sports.

On the same podcast episode, Taylor and co-hosts Ryan Clark and Channing Crowder talked to the New York Jets’ 2022 first-round pick Garrett Wilson about rookie dinners. Wilson excitedly told the former players about his upcoming rookie dinner and was quickly shocked when Taylor said the bill could reach $75,000.

“Nah, they ain’t doing me for $75K,” Wilson said.

The former players laughed at Wilson’s naiveté.

“He thinks it’s his decision,” Crowder said.