Keegan Murray's brief but impactful time in the NBA has seen him break multiple records and do things no other former Iowa star has done in the professional ranks -- and he added one more record-breaking accomplishment to that list on Monday, becoming the first Iowa player to earn NBA All-Rookie team honors.
Murray became the highest-drafted former Hawkeye ever when he was selected fourth overall by the Sacramento Kings in the NBA Draft last summer. He followed that up by having a superb rookie season, a campaign in which he set an NBA rookie record for most three-pointers made.
He shattered the previous rookie record for made three-pointers (187 by Donovan Mitchell in 2017-18) and finished his rookie season with 206 made 3-pointers on 501 attempts, good for 41% shooting from beyond the arc on the year. His 206 made 3s ranked 15th in the NBA and his 41.1% shooting rate from deep was good for 21st best in the NBA. Overall, Murray played in 80 of 82 regular season games, playing 29.8 minutes per contest and averaging 12.2 ppg, 4.6 rpg, and 1.2 apg, while shooting 45.3% from the field and 41.1% from 3-point range.
Murray was named Western Conference Rookie of the Month in December and January and finished fifth in the NBA Rookie of the Year voting, with a pair of first-place votes. After a slow start to his playoff campaign (3/13 from the field and 1/8 from 3-point range in his first three games), he had 23 points (on 5/7 shooting from deep) in Game 4 and posted a 15-point, 12-rebound double-double in a must-win Game 6 road game for Sacramento.
Murray finished his debut playoff series averaging 9.7 ppg and 6.3 rpg while shooting almost 45% from the floor and 37.5% from 3-point range.
In terms of advanced metrics, Murray finished with a PER of 12.3 and earned 4.3 win shares for the Kings in 2022-23. Among rookies, only Utah's Walker Kessler (7.3), Oklahoma City's Jalen Williams (5.6), and Detroit's Jalen Duren (4.5) contributed more win shares to their teams.
That's one of the most notable things about Murray's season: he wasn't just putting up numbers as he played through mistakes on a bad team, as is often the case for many Top-5 draft picks.
Instead, Murray was a starter and important contributor on a surprisingly good Sacramento team that won 48 games and earned the 3-seed in the Western Conference, ending a 17-year playoff drought. Of course, Murray was far from the only reason that drought ended -- but proving himself valuable to such a highly seeded team, straight out of the gate, should be a bright omen for Murray's career.
Murray becomes the first Iowa player to ever be named to an NBA All-Rookie team. The NBA All-Rookie team is not a new honor, either -- it's been awarded to the best rookies in a given season since the 1962-63 season. It took 60 years for an Iowa player to earn that distinction, but Keegan Murray finally ended that drought for Hawkeyes in the NBA.
Keegan Murray also becomes just the third Iowa prep to earn NBA All-Rookie honors. Kirk Hinrich earned NBA All-Rookie First team honors with the Chicago Bulls in 2003-04 and Harrison Barnes (a current teammate of Murray's on Sacramento) was named to the All-Rookie First Team with the Golden State Warriors in 2012-13.
Congratulations to Murray for one more significant achievement in a stellar rookie season.
