The National Basketball Association announced Tuesday that guard Malachi Flynn has been named Eastern Conference rookie of the month for April. Flynn becomes the ninth player in franchise history to earn the honour and the first since Jonas Valanciunas in March 2013. The other players that have earned rookie of the month honours for Toronto were Damon Stoudamire, Marcus Camby, Vince Carter, Charlie Villanueva, Jorge Garbajosa, Andrea Bargnani and Jamario Moon.
Flynn appeared in 15 games (eight starts) during the month of April for Toronto and helped the Raptors to an 8-7 record. He posted averages of 12.7 points, 4.8 assists, 4.1 rebounds, 28.3 minutes and shot .408 (29-for-71) from three-point range. His 29 three-pointers ranked second on the team last month behind OG Anunoby (30).
Highlighting Flynn’s month was a career-high 22 points Apr. 13 vs. Atlanta. He set a career high for points three times in April and also recorded his first career double-double with 20 points and a career-high 11 assists Apr. 10 at Cleveland. Flynn recorded at least 10 points in 11 games last month, something he did once prior to April.
Flynn was selected 29th overall by Toronto in the 2020 NBA Draft. The native of Tacoma, Washington spent one season at San Diego State after transferring from Washington State. Flynn is averaging 6.3 points, 2.7 assists, 2.2 rebounds and 18.0 minutes in 40 regular-season games this season. He also appeared in six games with Raptors 905 at the NBA G League bubble in Orlando, averaging 20.8 points, 4.5 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 34.4 minutes.