The Monk File
- 11th overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft
- One Consensus second-team All-American selection, 2017
- One time Jerry West Award winner, 2017
- One SEC Player of the Year award, 2017 (AP)
- One First-team All-SEC selection, 2017
- Won the SEC Freshman of the Year award, 2017
- Nicknamed "Microwave"
Malik Monk was the Greatest Show in Arkansas
Life is expensive. I know you've done the same drill as me at least once before.
Check the financials. Frown. Contemplate how insanely high your rent is. Enviously google real estate prices in Arkansas. Day dream about the wonderfully lavish life you'll live in Arkansas without the burden of expensive rent. Remember that there's nothing to do in Arkansas. Close tabs.
When there's not much to do, people often turn to their communities for fun, and that means high school sports are all the rage. Especially when Malik Monk was in town.
Monk was the definition of a phenom as a teenager, earning such praise as "the best I've ever seen" from a longtime basketball coach that had the privilege of coaching Monk. He was so good that after his freshman season, he transferred to a nearby school who's enrollment was greater than his hometown's population.
More people meant more fans.
As he routinely averaged 20 points per game, Bentonville gyms filled with students, fans, scouts, and coaches alike. Monk was famous before he passed pre-calc, so he was well prepared for the one season he spent at Kentucky before transitioning to the NBA.
He may never set foot in Arkansas again, and frankly, no one would blame him, but for the locals that rushed into those gyms, he'll live on as a legend.