A pair of Miami Heat rookies, Tyler Herro and Kendrick Nunn, have started their professional careers and the 2019-20 season red hot. In fact, they are responsible for the Heat's fast 4-1 start in the Eastern Conference.
According to SportsCenter, the two first-year guards have combined to score 194 points so far — the highest rookie duo mark since the Philadelphia Warriors' Wilt Chamberlain and Joe Ruklick in 1959-60.
The 19-year-old Herro is shooting lights out, scoring 16.4 points on 45.3 percent from the field and 35.7 percent from 3-point range in five games. Miami selected Herro with the 13th overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft last June, and he has been a revelation for the South Beach franchise, vaulting himself into the early Rookie of the Year candidacy.
Meanwhile, the 6-foot-2 Nunn is averaging a team-high 22.4 points in 21.6 minutes per game, starting in all five contests for Miami and holding it down for a new-look starting lineup that includes fifth-year guard/forward Justise Winslow as the team's point guard and veteran floor general Goran Dragic coming off the bench.
Nunn, 24, went undrafted in 2018 partially due to his history with battery (he pled guilty to the misdemeanor charge while attending Illinois in 2016 and later transferred to Oakland University). After a year in the NBA's G League, the Heat signed Nunn in April of 2019, and he later dropped 40 points in preseason in October.
The two rookies have been instrumental in Miami's solid start, which included multiple missed games by their new veteran swingman, All-Star Jimmy Butler, who was absent on paternity leave.