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The grass is greener for New Orleans Pelicans' Dejounte Murray. At least for now, since his trade from the Atlanta Hawks, Murray can't wipe the smile from his face, and he let it be known this week.
When a video from the Roommates Show with Jalen Brunson & Josh Hart surfaced of co-host New York Knicks guard Josh Hart telling his guest, New Orleans-born rapper Lil' Wayne, “I don't think you'll ever hear someone say they were excited to be traded to New Orleans, I wasn't,” Murray interjected on social media:
Shittttttttttttttt I Can’t RELATE!!! 😬 NOLA I Been Smiling Since That MF Trade Happen On My Mama!!! 😅 https://t.co/v2rLAcKsTE
— Dejounte Murray (@DejounteMurray) August 23, 2024
Dejounte Murray joins Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram and the Pelicans
Dejounte Murray was traded to the Pelicans for a deal centered around two future first-round picks, Larry Nance Jr., E.J. Liddell, and Dyson Daniels. He averaged a career-best 22.5 points, 6.4 assists, and 5.3 rebounds in 2023-24 for the Hawks.
And he now joins the Pelicans' star tandem of Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram in New Orleans, to which NBA writer Bleacher Report's Zach Buckley feels compelled to mention the Pelicans as potential dark-horse favorites to come out of the Western Conference or imposters, depending on how you envision Murray solving New Orleans' facilitating concerns in 2024-25.
“Leave it to the Pelicans to fill their playmaking void with an aggressive move for Dejounte Murray yet still not emerge as obvious offseason winners,” Buckley wrote. “They simply can't when the oft-discussed deal for Brandon Ingram never materialized, and their big-man rotation appears to be the Association's worst by a wide margin (Jonas Valančiūnas and Larry Nance Jr. out; Daniel Theis and rookie Yves Missi in).
“It's tempting to wager on a team this talented figuring things out, but the pieces seemingly come from several different puzzles, and that center rotation is an eyesore. The Pelicans should be in play-in contention, but writing their name in anything other than pencil or erasable ink feels overly ambitious given the depth of the Western Conference.”
The Pelicans could be in the market for a center this season. In the meantime, ironing out the offense between three dominant 20+ point scorers will be a focal point in training camp, an issue most NBA teams would love to have heading into the upcoming season.
