It didn’t take Keegan Murray long to make an impact in the National Basketball Association.
The former Hawkeye who was the fourth overall pick in the NBA Draft late last month took the NBA Summer League by storm in the last few weeks, averaging 23.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1.3 steals per game.
On Monday he was rewarded by being named the Most Valuable Player of the NBA Summer League, which took place in Las Vegas. Murray also put up outstanding numbers in three games in San Francisco in the California Classic, averaging just under 20 points per game. Equally as impressive is that Murray also averaged over 40% from three point range in the seven total games in played during the month of July.
In addition to being named Summer League MVP, Murray heads up the NBA 2K23 All-Summer League First Team. That group also includes Tari Eason (Houston Rockets), Quentin Grimes (New York Knicks), Sandro Mamukelashvili (Milwaukee Bucks) and Cam Thomas (Brooklyn Nets). Eason was the No. 17 pick in the 2022 Draft, while Grimes, Mamukelashvili and Thomas are all second-year NBA players.
Murray wasn’t the only former Hawkeye playing in Las Vegas during the NBA Summer League. Luka Garza, who is currently a free agent, played with the Portland Trailblazers, who won the NBA Summer League title on Sunday afternoon with a victory over the New York Knicks. He averaged 6.5 points in just over 14 minutes of action for Portland.
Iowa wing Joe Wieskamp was in Las Vegas with the San Antonio Spurs, but he did not see any game action in their five games. The Muscatine native sprained his ankle the day before the start of the NBA Summer League and was held out of games. He recently signed a one year contract with the Spurs for the upcoming season.
One surprise addition to the NBA Summer League from an Iowa perspective was Golden State adding Jarrod Uthoff to their roster once they arrived in Las Vegas. The former Hawkeye played in Japan last season and is back in the United States looking for an NBA opportunity. Uthoff played in four games and averaged 5 points and 5.5 rebounds for the Warriors.
