What The Dejounte Murray Trade Means For The Pelicans

What The Dejounte Murray Trade Means For The Pelicans

all right so the Atlanta Hawks have been extremely busy this week obviously earlier this week they picked up Zachary richet with the number one overall pick in the draft and a couple of minutes ago they participated in a huge trade with the Pelicans sending dejonte Murray over to New Orleans in exchange for Larry n Jr Dyson Daniels a 2025 first round pick and a 2027 first round pick as well so Atlanta this offseason had a bit of a choice to make there were kind of two ways they can look at things do we continue to try to build a contender around Trey young or do we begin a rebuild those were two legitimate questions to ask that was something they were considering once they got that first overall pick because the truth about the Hawks is this 2021 they make an extremely deep playoff run they nearly make the NBA Finals since then they have not gotten back to that level they have gotten progressively worse over the years despite adding some big pieces to their roster they paired Deon Murray up with with Trey young and also got Quinn Snyder who at that time was one of the best coaches in the league and still with that they did not improve things got really ugly last season when they lost in the playing tournament to the Chicago Bulls so there are legitimate concerns about whether or not there is upside right now with building around Trey young and looking at how they’re moving so far throughout this off season with getting and keeping that number one pick and also moving away to John Murray for the draft Capital they got back it does look like they may be going going into this rebuilding type of situation best believe this is not the last move they’ll make this offseason they still up assets like Trey young and assets like clink capella and some other pieces that are still here on this particular roster so I think that’s the path that the Hawks are on right now it’s a little disappointing like I said considering how good great they were as a team back in 2021 to see them now almost make this choice to start rebuilding and going to a different direction for the Pelicans this is a really really good trade first off they get off of Larry Nan’s expiring contract he’s going to be a unrestricted free agent in 2025 and so think about this starting lineup if this is the only move they make this off season the starting lineup looks like this CJ McCullum Deonte Murray Brandon Ingram Zion Williamson and possibly jonis valent chunes who knows they may go small they may throw in herb Jones in the starting lineup and slide Zion to the five but still that is a really really good starting lineup with some good pieces outside of that Trey Murphy right herb Jones as I just mentioned Jose alberado there are still some good pieces outside of that that is a really really good roster that could go really deep into the postseason as far as jont Murray goes this Pelicans team has needed a really good playmaker for a while they haven’t had a legitimate playmaker on this roster since Lonzo ball Deon can feel that role perfectly last time he was given like full-time playmaking duties was with the Spurs where he average nine assists per game those are Elite assist numbers right and on top of that he adds to their already really good defense he gives him another really good point of attack guy herb Jones is already an all defensive player de Jon Murray can also be an all defensive player out on the perimeter for this team so he just continues to boost this Pelicans defense and he’s going to help them a lot from an offensive standpoint because he is a really good shot Creator right that’s something that they also needed around Zion CJ McCullum kind of had these stretches where he went cold Brandon Ingram is really good but having another guy out there for kind of like insurance is perfect joh is a really good shot Creator a really good scorer has scored in the 20s multiple times throughout his career so he can take a lot of pressure off of CJ and Brandon at time so they have a really good Supporting Cast of scores around Zion on top of that Deon can space the floor that was one question people had for him when he went over to ATL how well can he play off the ball just this past season he shot at 46% on catch and shoot threes obviously they’re going to need someone to space the floor to allow Zion to drive to the basket and have good angles to the Lane because that’s kind of his entire Mo makes a lot of sense this trade helps them on both ends of the basketball only thing stopping this team is injuries let’s be completely honest if Zion didn’t get hurt in the playing tournament they probably could have got a could have got a lot deeper into the postseason right that was a really really really good team that got better offensively progressively throughout the season and was also really good defensively so the only thing stopping them now is health is that simple your best player has to be available we saw that kill a lot of teams in the Eastern Conference we saw with Miami right Jimmy Butler was hurt in that first round and the heat weren’t able to keep up with the Celtics second round Donovan Mitchell missed a couple of games in that series and the Cavs weren’t able to keep up with the Celtics and also happened in the Conference Finals with the Pacers your best guy has to get available no matter how good your supporting pieces are no matter how many good allars you have outside of your best guy you still need your best player to be available to win playoff series period Point Blank so that’s what it’s going to ultimately come down to for this team that’s a big question Zion has not been the most reliable from a health standpoint even at time s where he’s looked really healthy and he’s looked like he can go deep into the playoffs things have kind of gotten cut off we saw that as I said last year in the playing tournament he looked great during the season and still end up getting cut off in the playing tournament so that’s going to be the biggest thing is Health but as far as the basketball fit this makes total sense and again they can continue to play around some things in the starting lineup they could go small and have Zion at the five have balunis kind of come off the bench and try to boost themselves from a defensive standpoint by sliding herb Jones in there there are a million different things they can do but this is a really really good Pelicans team with the addition of a guy like dejonte Murray so like I said for the Hawks I think this thrust them into rebuild position I don’t think this is the last move they make this off season I’m not mad at them for going into rebuild position because I’m having the same questions about try young what is the upside can you really build a contender around him there are just some players that you just can’t build around they may be really good players they may be really good scores and they get amazing numbers but they’re not players you can you can really build a team around Paul George is kind of in that category really good player throughout the course of his career but he’s not a dude where you’re like we’re going to try to build a contender around this guy right Trey young is kind of in that boat right now phenomenal player phenomenal skill set but not somebody I think you can build a contender around and everything like that so that’s the thing so we’ll see what they end up doing the rest of the off season um I do think there could have been better packages they could have gotten for de jontay Murray even with their situation with trying to rebuild and going to another Direction there could have been you know better moves they could have made better packages they could have got back but either way at least they’re looking or they look like they’re looking to go into another direction as far as this franchise so we’ll see what else they do in the off season I don’t like to do the winners and losers things when it comes to trades because trades should be mutually beneficial but this is one of those where I do feel like there’s an outright winner and I really do think the Pelicans kind of got over on the Hawks a bit right this isn’t a really flattering amount of capital back for a player like de jonay Murray who I think is really underrated right people really let it in ATL like lower his value and I just don’t think that’s fair he’s still a really good player who’s in a situation that did not fit so amazing move for the Pelicans I do think this makes them legitimate contenders out in the Western Conference it’s just going to come down to health that’s it but on paper I don’t see much failing for this Pelicans team I I just really don’t now they did lose Kenny ainson who was really good with kind of helping this team Revitalize themselves offensively so we’ll see if they’re able to bounce back in that regard but great roster move by the front office and we’ll see what else they do and we’ll also see as I said what else the Hawks do moving forward into the rest of what will be a very interesting off seon for this franchise

Another blockbuster trade just hit the presses with the Atlanta Hawks trading away Dejounte Murray to the New Orleans Pelicans in exchange for Larry Nance Jr., Dyson Daniels, and a few future draft picks. This sparks a change in the Hawks franchise as it signals what could be a rebuild, potentially parting away from the Trae Young era which has been nothing short of disappointing since an Eastern Conference Finals appearance in 2021. For the Pels, a trio of Brandon Ingram (if he stays), Zion Williamson, and Dejounte Murray looks threatening to other Western Conference contenders…. only if the team can stay healthy.

Time Stamps:

0:00 Intro
0:26 Are The Hawks Rebuilding?
2:00 How Good Are The Pelicans Now?

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