Magic forward Paolo Banchero and Kings forward Keegan Murray have been named the NBA’s rookies of the month, the league announced (via Twitter). It’s the second straight Rookie of the Month honor for both players.
Banchero, the Eastern Conference winner, averaged 20.1 points, 5.9 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.3 steals on .429/.329/.781 in 14 January games (32.7 minutes per contest). He was the No. 1 overall pick of last June’s draft.
Murray, the No. 4 overall pick, averaged 14.0 points and 5.9 rebounds on an extremely efficient .510/.495/.933 shooting slash line in 15 games (32.2 minutes). He won for the Western Conference.
According to the NBA (Twitter link), the other nominees in the West were Tari Eason, Jabari Smith Jr., Walker Kessler, Jeremy Sochan and Jalen Williams, while Jaden Ivey and Bennedict Mathurin were nominated in the East.