THE The grass is greener for New Orleans Pelicans’ Dejoute Murray. At least for now, since his exchange with the Atlanta HawksMurray I can’t wipe the smile off his faceand he made it known this week.
When a video from The Roommates Show with Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart surfaced, showing New York Knicks guard co-host Josh Hart telling his guest, New Orleans-born rapper Lil’ Wayne, “I don’t think you’ll ever hear anybody say they were excited to get traded to New Orleans, I wasn’t,” Murray intervened on social networks:
Dejounte Murray joins Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram and the Pelicans
Dejounte Murray traded to Pelicans for a deal centered on two future first-round picks, Larry Nance Jr., EJ Liddell and Dyson Daniels. He averaged 22.5 points, 6.4 assists and 5.3 rebounds in 2023-24 for the Hawks.
And he now joins the Pelicans’ star duo of Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram in New Orleans, something Bleacher Report NBA reporter Zach Buckley feels obliged to mention The Pelicans are either potential underdogs to emerge from the Western Conference or imposters, depending on how you envision Murray solving New Orleans’ facilitating issues in 2024-25.
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“Let the Pelicans fill their playmaking void with an aggressive trade for Dejounte Murray without emerging as clear winners of the offseason,” Buckley wrote. “They simply can’t do that when the oft-discussed Brandon Ingram deal never materialized, and their big-man rotation appears to be the worst in the conference by far (Jonas Valančiūnas and Larry Nance Jr. out; Daniel Theis and rookie Yves Missi in).”
“It’s tempting to bet on a team this talented to figure it out, but the pieces seem to come from several different puzzles, and that center rotation is a horror. The Pelicans should be in play-in contention, but writing their name in anything other than pencil or erasable ink seems overly ambitious given the depth of the Western Conference.”
The Pelicans may be looking for a center this season. In the meantime, sorting out the offense between three dominant 20-plus point scorers will be a focal point of training camp, a problem most NBA teams would like to have as they head into the upcoming season.
