Heat guard Kendrick Nunn named NBA’s Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month
Heat guard Kendrick Nunn’s strong and surprising start to the season has been rewarded.
The NBA announced Tuesday that Nunn has been named the Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month for games played in October and November. Grizzlies guard Ja Morant earned the honor of Western Conference Rookie of the Month.
The 24-year-old Nunn is the first Heat player to be named Rookie of the Month since Josh Richardson received the award for his play in March 2016. Caron Butler and Michael Beasley are the only other Heat players who have earned the honor, with Butler receiving it four times during his rookie season in 2002-03.
“He’s just a very serious, steady competitor that we feel very fortunate to be able to have him with us,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Nunn before Tuesday’s game against the Raptors. “He put in a great deal of work this summer to prepare himself for this opportunity, not knowing what the opportunity would be and he’s working at it. He still has a long way to go defensively, but he’s putting in the time. Offensively, he has a great skill set already. But he has refined it and worked on that, and added new weapons.”
Nunn entered Tuesday ranked third among rookies in scoring at 16.1 points per game, second in field goals made (122), second in threes made (42), sixth in minutes played (552), fourth in assists (61), fourth in steals (23) and fourth in plus/minus (plus-48) this season.
Nunn has started in each of the Heat’s first 19 games, and is shooting an efficient 46.4 percent from the field and 38.2 percent on threes entering Tuesday’s contest in Toronto.
“Everything,” Heat guard Goran Dragic said when asked what has been most impressive about Nunn’s start to the season. “How he’s playing the game and how calm he is, playing at his own pace. You see what he can do on the floor. He can score a lot. He just gives us that calmness. He can get to any point of the floor he wants.”
Undrafted out of Oakland University in 2018, Nunn signed a non-guaranteed deal with the Heat on the final day of the 2018-19 regular season. He spent last season with Golden State’s G League affiliate, the Santa Cruz Warriors.
Nunn isn’t the only impressive rookie on the Heat’s roster, though.
First-round pick Tyler Herro is also off to a fast start, averaging 14.4 points while shooting 45.1 percent from the field and 40.4 percent on threes over the Heat’s first 19 games. Herro, who was among the finalists for the Rookie of the Month award that went to Nunn, entered Tuesday ranked third among rookies in threes made (38) and second in plus/minus (plus-69).
Spoelstra was nominated for Eastern Conference Coach of the Month, but the award went to Toronto’s Nick Nurse.
Heat wing Jimmy Butler and center Bam Adebayo were nominated for Eastern Conference Player of the Month, which went to Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo.
This story was originally published December 3, 2019 at 2:40 PM.
