Keegan Murray named to USA Basketball Select Team
Every high level athlete dreams of representing their country in their chosen sport in the Olympic Games. This summer the Olympic Games will be taking place in Paris and the United States will be sending one of the most talented men’s basketball squads in history.
Led by LeBron James, Steph Curry, and Kevin Durant and coached by Steve Kerr, the United States 12 man team will begin training on July 6th in Las Vegas. For three days they will engage in training before facing the Canadian Olympic team in an exhibition game, also in Las Vegas, and then head overseas for more exhibition games. One of those exhibition games will be against South Sudan, which will feature former Hawkeye Peter Jok.
Jok won’t be the only former Hawkeye involved in hoops. On Friday, USA Basketball announced that Keegan Murray would be part of their Select Team that will train with the Olympic team for three days in Las Vegas.
This marks the second straight summer that Murray has been involved in the USA Basketball training camp. Last year in early August, Murray was part of the camp preparing the United States team for the FIBA Championships.
After being the fourth pick in the NBA Draft, Murray was a first team All Rookie selection, averaging 12.2 points and 4.6 rebounds in his first season of professional basketball. He set a rookie record with 206 made three point field goals, making 41% from beyond the arch. Murray was also named NBA Rookie of the Month in December and January.
This past season, Murray increased his scoring output to 15.2 points per game and 5.5 rebounds a contest. This also included a career high 47 point game on December 16th against Utah.
Joining Murray on the select team are Jalen Duren (Detroit Pistons), Cooper Flagg (Duke University), Langston Galloway (Free Agent), Nigel Hayes-Davis (Fenerbahçe, Turkey), Trayce Jackson-Davis (Golden State Warriors), Jaime Jaquez Jr. (Miami Heat), Brandon Miller (Charlotte Hornets), Trey Murphy (New Orleans Pelicans), Brandin Podziemski (Golden State Warriors), Micah Potter (Utah Jazz/Salt Lake City Stars), Payton Pritchard (Boston Celtics), Jabari Smith Jr. (Houston Rockets), Jalen Suggs (Orlando Magic) and Amen Thompson (Houston Rockets).
