Leadership and camaraderie are two oft discussed but still underrated intangibles that can be the difference between a team winning an NBA championship and them repeatedly falling short of their goal. Which is why the actions and words of Atlanta Hawks guard Dejounte Murray, who just finished his sixth NBA season, matters so much.

The first to reach out to each member of the Hawks' 2023 NBA Draft class — 15th overall pick Kobe Bufkin, 39th overall pick Mouhamed Gueye, and 46th overall pick Seth Lundy — Murray was congratulatory, supportive, and motivational.

“Dejounte [Murray] reached out to me right when I landed, and a couple of the other guys had reached out but, specifically Dejounte FaceTimed me and just encouraged me to get into the gym immediately and keep working hard,” Bufkin recalls.

“Hopefully, we can link up in [Las] Vegas, he said, so I'm looking forward to working with those guys for sure.”

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“Yeah, for me,” Lundy says, “Dejounte had reached out to me and texted me like the morning of the draft. He was basically just telling me ‘Congratulations… it's time to go to work though.'”

“Like, all that work you put in, don't be satisfied and keep that same hunger. Let's just build off of that and get better.”

“Yeah, same here.” Gueye chimes in. “Dejounte was the first one to text me too… he texted me the night of the draft. Jalen [Johnson] did too. He was just saying the same thing… ‘That's when the work starts. We gonna keep working'… he was just supportive.”

For all the discussions about the possibility of the Hawks trading Murray this offseason, his leadership continues to be the most impressive on the team. The comments by the rookies during the media introductions only highlights that.