Kings’ Keegan Murray reacts to setting NBA rookie 3-point record
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On a night in which the Sacramento Kings clinched a playoff berth for the first time since 2006, it was rookie Keegan Murray that also made some history, too.
Malik Monk produced a team-high 19 points, six rebounds and six assists to lead the Kings to the 120-80 victory on the road over the Portland Trail Blazers.
De’Aaron Fox added 18 points and Kevin Huerter had 17 points.
Murray scored 13 points, five rebounds and one assist, and hit three 3s. With the performance, Murray surpassed Donovan Mitchell for the most 3-pointers in a single season by a rookie in NBA history.
He now stands alone at the top of the list with 188 3s.
“It was just a lot of time in the gym with my dad and my brother,” Murray told Mark Jones of NBC Sports California. “I think it just exemplifies what those two have brought to me in my life and I am just excited that they can be a part of this.”
RECORD BREAKING.
Keegan Murray has the most threes EVER by a rookie (188) ‼️
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📺: https://t.co/1pomQZMAZK pic.twitter.com/gy5BKYiHNX— NBA (@NBA) March 30, 2023
Mitchell broke the previous rookie 3-point record of 185 (set by Damian Lillard) during the 2017-18 season with the Utah Jazz. He averaged 20.5 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.5 steals in 79 games on 34% shooting from 3-point range that season.
He passed Lillard in his 78th game to set the record on April 10, 2018.
Murray entered the evening needing just three 3-pointers to set the record, and the fourth pick crossed that mark with 6 minutes and 44 seconds left in the third quarter. Upon hitting it, Murray let out a small grin as the Kings’ bench erupted to celebrate the accomplishment.
Kings coach Mike Brown was happy for Murray after the game.
Breaking any type of record at the highest level in anything you do is absolutely amazing and to see Keegan do that tonight with the way he has played all year and how hard he has worked was an amazing feat. You don’t take that for granted. That is hard to do when you’re talking about something in the history of something. That is an amazing, amazing job that he has done.
Murray has been on a record-setting pace all season.
The fourth pick previously set the franchise record for 3s by a rookie after surpassing Bogdan Bogdanovic’s mark of 129 last month. Earlier in the season, Murray drained a 3 in 32 straight games from Nov. 25-Jan. 30, which was tied for the third-longest streak by a rookie in history. He passed Mitchell playing in his 74th game on Wednesday and did so with the highest percentage (40.7) ever by a rookie with at least 400 attempts.
Said Brown:
He should be applauded for many years, hopefully. He is not done with it yet. I’m just so proud of him. You’re excited for his family, friends and teammates. It is phenomenal. Hopefully, he is in the record books for the next 100 years or more because it is an amazing job watching him break that record from a phenomenal player that held it for as many years as he had. I can’t say enough about him and how deserving he is of it.
The Kings (46-30) snapped a 16-season playoff drought with the win, the longest streak in the history of the NBA and the longest active skid of any of the four major sports leagues in the United States.
It will be their 30th playoff appearance in team history.
“It is the effort the front office has put in throughout the years,” Murray said. “We’ve had really good teams, I think, throughout that 17 years and this one just exemplifies all of them. It is really cool to be on this team. We’re all excited but we all know we have a lot more to do.”
