Keegan Murray named Western Conference Rookie of the Month

Sacramento Kings rookie forward Keegan Murray has been named Western Conference Rookie of the Month for his impressive play during December.

The fourth-overall pick shook off a rough November and bounced back to the tune of 12.7 points per game on 46 percent shooting from the field and a red-hot 46 percent from three-point land.

Murray leads the 2022 NBA Draft class in made three-point field goals (79) and three-point field goal percentage with a 38 percent rate (minimum 100 attempts).

Kings rookie Keegan Murray adds another accolade to the list 💪

✅ No. 4 Overall Pick
✅ Summer League MVP
✅ 𝙒𝙀𝙎𝙏𝙀𝙍𝙉 𝘾𝙊𝙉𝙁𝙀𝙍𝙀𝙉𝘾𝙀 𝙍𝙊𝙊𝙆𝙄𝙀 𝙊𝙁 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙈𝙊𝙉𝙏𝙃

RT to congratulate the rook 👑 pic.twitter.com/tybIWVPoCI

— Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) January 3, 2023

Among all rookies this season, Murray also currently ranks fifth in scoring (11.5) and total points scored (137).

Per the Kings, Murray is the eighth player in franchise history to receive Rookie of the Month honors and the first NBA Rookie of the Month out of Iowa since the award’s inception during the 1981-82 season.

Murray, who averaged 8.0 points per game on 33 percent shooting from the field and just 27 percent from beyond the arc, has turned things around after breaking through the ‘Rookie Wall’ in December. The 22-year-old is making an impact in several ways, even in some facets of the game that don’t always show up in the box score.

One aspect of the rookie’s improvements is that he is playing with confidence, something that wasn’t seen often during the first month of the season.

Sacramento has benefited from having a lengthy shooting forward like Keegan Murray on its roster as they have jumped out to their strongest start in over a decade. With Murray finding himself at the NBA level and stars De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis leading the way, this Kings team is hoping to make noise as the time for a playoff push approaches.

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