The New Orleans Pelicans now have their point guard.
On Friday evening, the Pelicans traded for Atlanta Hawks guard Dejounte Murray, at long last giving the team a guard who can facilitate the offense while also being able to score and defend. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Hawks are receiving a 2025 first-round pick, a 2027 first-round pick, Larry Nance Jr., and young guard Dyson Daniels.
In Murray, the Pelicans get a 27-year-old point guard who has good size (6 feet, 5 inches) and is complete (22.5 points, 6.4 assists, 5.3 rebounds in 2023-2024). Murray, a 2022 All-Star, led the NBA in steals that year and made the All-Defensive Second Team in just second season in the league in 2017-2018.
The Pelicans’ biggest need has been a point guard. Too often, Zion Williamson initiated the offense, and it took away from the rest of his game. The same goes for C.J. McCollum, who is a great perimeter shooter who also needed to handle some of the playmaking duties. Now, Murray can handle that and it will allow Williamson and McCollum to flourish while playing more traditional to their skill set and ability.
Murray joins a Pelicans team that along with Williamson and McCollum has Herb Jones and Trey Murphy, the former who is a rock solid defender and the latter who is an explosive athlete who can shoot from deep. Brandon Ingram remains on the roster, but he might be dealt still. Center Jonas Valanciunas is a free-agent.
Meanwhile for the Hawks, the deal brings an end to the Murray-Trae Young pairing. Murray was with the Hawks for the past two seasons, the team going 41-41 in 2022-2023 but just 36-46 this past season. After drafting French forward Zaccharie Risacher number one overall, they may just look to go into a full rebuild, trading Young and centering their future around the versatile 19-year-old forward.
The Pelicans lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2024 Play-In Tournament, but take a big step in the right direction with this trade. A healthy Pelican team should be right in the mix in the Eastern Conference.
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