Draft Digest Rookies of the Week: Paolo Banchero Fuels Wins, Keegan Murray Dominant From Perimeter

Who were the most impressive rookies across the NBA over the past week?

Each week, the Draft Digest team picks an NBA rookie from each conference as the best player of the week.

Over the past week, it’s been two of the top four picks in this class that have shined the brightest. It’s truly rare for a rookie to be one of the best players on a team that’s winning games, which is what our two winners this time around have done.

Who brought home the hardware this week?

Eastern Conference 

Paolo Banchero (Orlando Magic)

Kim Klement / USA TODAY Sports

Stats Since Last Week: 4 GP | 23.0 PPG| 6.8 RPG | 1.5 SPG | 52.4% 3PT

Banchero continues to be a remarkable rookie, helping the Magic in a big way on their recent six-game win streak. Over the past week specifically, he led Orlando to a 3-1 record.

What’s been most impressive about the Duke prospect during these past four games has been the 3-point shooting. It’s rare to see a player of Banchero’s size knock down triples at this rate. He shot better than 50% on over five 3-point attempts per game this week.

Banchero is running away with the NBA Rookie of the Year Award, notching a rookie-best 7.2 C-RAM this season according to Cerebro Sports. He’s been well worth the No. 1 overall pick to this point.

Western Conference 

Keegan Murray (Sacramento Kings)

Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Stats Since Last Week: 3 GP | 18.0 PPG| 2.0 RPG | 56.5% 3PT

Over the past week, spanning three games, Murray has knocked down 13 shots from deep. He’s shot 55% from beyond the arc on nearly eight attempts per game during this stretch. He even converted on six triples against the Lakers in his most recent outing.

Not only is he crushing it from the perimeter, but he’s also impacting winning. Murray has been a huge positive in the box score and is one of the few rookies truly impacting winning in a large role on a playoff team.

When Murray is on the floor, the Kings are statistically much better than when he’s not.

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