Dejounte Murray is excited to team up with Trae Young and had been talking to his new partner in the Hawks‘ backcourt about the possibility for the past two to three weeks, according to Chris Kirschner of The Athletic. Speaking at press conference Friday, Murray said Atlanta was the only team he wanted to join and told reporters that he probably would still be with the Spurs if it hadn’t been for the opportunity with the Hawks.
Atlanta paid a premium price to acquire Murray, sending Danilo Gallinari and a sizable package of draft assets to San Antonio. General manager Landry Fields said the Hawks took time to assess the risks before committing to the trade.
“This wasn’t one of those that came about in a day,” Fields said. “Looking at what we were going to part with up front was one thing and then once we started to engage with San Antonio, it turned into another thing. We took time between talks to sit and think about how this was going to impact us in the future, how was this going to impact our current team, projection-wise what we are going to look like in several years, after factoring all of that in, we got to a place we were comfortable with.”
Here are some other notes from the Southeast Division:
- Justin Holiday and Maurice Harkless, who are being acquired from the Kings in the Kevin Huerter trade, are both expected to be on the Hawks’ opening night roster. Kirschner adds. He also states that Atlanta continues to listen to offers for John Collins.
- The Wizards were able to retain star free agent Bradley Beal in free agency, but questions remain about whether it was the right move for the team, Josh Robbins of The Athletic writes. Washington agreed to a five-year, $251MM deal with the three-time All-Star, prompting Robbins to explore whether keeping Beal at that price will keep the Wizards stuck in mediocrity due to their limited cap flexibility.
- The Magic‘s free agency moves further prove the team believes in its young core, Khobi Price of the Orlando Sentinel opines. Orlando reached agreements with Mohamed Bamba, Gary Harris and Bol Bol, and guaranteed Moritz Wagner‘s salary. The team appears ready to run it back and continue developing its own players rather than adding outside help.
- The Hornets are expected to hire Tyrone Corbin and Bob Beyer to Steve Clifford‘s coaching staff, Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report tweets. Corbin worked for Clifford in Orlando, while Beyer coached under Clifford in Charlotte. Corbin and Beyer hold over 30 years of combined NBA coaching experience.
Arthur Hill contributed to this post.
Hard not to chuckle at ppl still trying to act like the Hawks paid a “premium price” for Dejounte. Spurs got Charlotte’s upcoming 1st but it’s protected top16 next yr & lottery protected the next couple yrs after that. If Cha continues to miss playoffs (this has become much more likely over the past couple weeks) then SA will actually be getting 2 1sts, 2 2nds & a pick swap for Dejounte. Gallo obv doesn’t factor, neither team wanted him. The pick swap may or may not happen & prob won’t tbh. The 1sts are unprotected but we would have zero reason to tank. Plus we’re currently armed with as much young talent as any team in the league. PLUS we have control of both of our next 2 1sts & Sac’s 1st in 2024 so we should be pretty stacked going into that period of unprotected picks. This was a fleece straight up. I can see why SA would trade DJ but they didn’t play their cards very well at all
Also the fact that SA gets literally nothing from the deal until summer 2025 at the earliest unless Charlotte makes playoffs before then
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
Seems like the Spurs sacrificed for Dejounte’s preference. Cannot agree. Maybe the FO is looking so far ahead, they lost interest in the present.
Spurs dont lose trades and the Hawks never win. I wish murray well.
I think sa was trying to compensate for that s**t deal they got in the Leonard trade
I love Orlando’s young core too but it seems a lil ridiculous for them to run it back with the same exact team & just adding a few rookies. Even just trying to bring back Dwight to be a vet presence down low woulda been cool on a bunch of levels. But yea their youngsters are gonna be fun to watch. RJ Hampton is a guy I’m esp hype to see this season
They were among the most injured teams also. Plus Carter, Franz and Bamba made up some of their most used positive line ups. That’s was with Cole, Harris, Suggs and Fultz interchangeable.
They have hope with Simmons (maybe) coming back and Paolo.
They are deep amd could use some consolidation if they start well.
“They are deep amd could use some consolidation if they start well”
Well said, I think the plan is to just get everybody in the building and see where it goes- They are 11 deep today with some other interesting parts below. I don’t think they want to sell anymore but are well equipped to do so if the first 40+ games go south. This is kinda the arc you crave if your at Orl’s point, many teams rebuilding have far greater obstacles
Looks like a 2 yr window period to access…lotta par value expiring’s next year if they want to speed the process up or they can just have open cap for 25′
Its a do or die year for BOTH Fultz and Issaac in ORL
Yeah I wish that instead of bringing back Gary Harris that they traded Markelle Fultz for a SG with a little more upside as a shooter.
Something like Fultz for Malik Beasley
Then I’d play Cole Malik Paolo Issacs and Carter Jr as the starting side. Paolo and Cole the main ball handlers and Beasley a steady shooting presence and Issacs as a solid defender.
Then off the bench Jalen Harris/Hampton Franz Okeke and Bamba but again another veteran like Dwight Howard would’ve been cool.
Trade Terrance Ross for picks
What? nah man, this isn’t even close.
Fultz is their best PG right now and still a very promising young player…even without a 3PT shot he is an excellent playmaker with a rapidly improving mid range game.
Harris was the Magic’s best 3PT shooter last season + a very solid 3-D vet presence that stabilized both ends of the floor. It would not surprise me if he’s starting SG on opening night.
Cole is way closer to a 6th man than a starting PG. He’s essentially an undersized SG that needs ball dominance and high volume to generate points but at pretty low efficiency + he’s a poor defender.
Maybe at some point his shooting and finishing improve to make him tenable as starter on a good team…but IMO he’s destined to 6th man role.
FYI, Franz is ORL’s best player (though Paolo might change that). He was by far the Magic’s best on-ball player…as a rook. He is NOT coming off the bench LOL.
Also, the last time Isaac started a game or played without minute restrictions was December 30, 2019. Since then he’s had 3 surgeries and has yet to do any contact work or even play 5vs5 since a very brief appearance in the bubble. It would be an insane turnaround for him to start…for him expect a bench rotation role with minute restrictions for a while.
Not really.
They first need to see what backcourt pieces fit before they start to consolidate or adding players that make it difficult to get a clear answer.
No esta bien que le den mucho dinero a un jugador, porque si se lastima deja al equipo debilitado, para mi los contratos deber ser de menos dinero y de 2 a tres años
Hawks did a great job getting two solid defenders in Murray and Holiday.
Hueter was hardly going to needed that much with Murray starting next to Young and Bogi as the primary back up.
Be interesting to see if anything happens with John Collins. But I think now that you’ve got Murray, you don’t really need to move him. I never though he was good enough to be the second best player on a team trying to contend but he would make a nice third best player which he now is. Hawks probably need to just start looking at building out the bench.
Dennis Schroder returning would be fantastic with Delon Wright gone. Schroder and Bogi off the bench would be tough. Probably need to get a floor stretching big man to replace Gallo aswell. Maybe Paul Millsap returns home for a final season.