NBA Trade Rumors: Spurs Have 'Exploratory Interest' in Hawks' Dejounte Murray
After signing a four-year, $120 million contract extension this summer, Dejounte Murray is finally eligible for the Atlanta Hawks to trade him. The San Antonio Spurs seem like an ideal fit, considering that they are in dire need of a distributor to get the ball to Victor Wembanyama.
Unfortunately, those waters have already been muddied.
Murray spent his first six seasons in San Antonio, where he went from sparingly used rookie behind Tony Parker, to starter, then rehabed an ACL tear, then eventually became an All-Star. He had an ugly breakup with San Antonio, "The way that system set up you gone be losing for the next 15 years!" Murray wrote on Instagram. "Problem bigger than basketball." The phrase ‘problem bigger than basketball’ could have been a reference to the Josh Primo incident, but Primo was not released by the Spurs until three months after Murray’s post. Maybe he knew something? Maybe he just likes to troll fans online?
Dejounte Murray (5) meets with his former coach, Gregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs.
© Daniel Dunn, USA TODAY
Regardless of how his exit went, things seem to be smoothed over in San Antonio, at least professionally. He and coach Gregg Popovich are very clearly close, as Pop developed him from 29th overall pick to All-Star. “Watching every time Dejounte has returned to San Antonio, he and [Popovich] and their interactions, it’s very lovely,” said Michelle Beadle.
With Atlanta’s lack of success this year, the Hawks seem interested in cleaning house. With team control over Murray for the next four years, Atlanta can sell him to the highest bidder, which might be his former team.
“Dejounte Murray is trade eligible starting today, the Hawks are going to begin escalating conversations even more,” Shams Charania reported. “The Lakers are a suitor we’ve discussed, they have a need at that position and we’re still waiting to see exactly how his market shakes out, but one team that has a level of exploratory interest I’m told, is his former team, the San Antonio Spurs.”
The Spurs traded Murray to Atlanta in 2022 for a package centered around first-round picks in 2025 and 2027, and a pick swap in 2026. Considering that the Spurs basically own Atlanta’s drafting future, perhaps reuniting Atlanta with some of their picks could be enough to get Murray back.
There is no way that Murray in his current form is worth three first-round picks. There were questions when the trade was made if Murray was worth it then. The Spurs are building towards the future, and trading more than two picks for a 27-year-old guard who doesn’t fit their timeline isn’t the move they would want to make.
“The Spurs are obviously building around Victor Wembanyama, Devin Vassell…they have a ton of draft picks moving forward and I think they are going to take a very patient approach in their building process,” Charania said. “There’s not a real level of urgency in going out there immediately.”
Without that level of urgency, don’t expect the Spurs to make any blockbuster deals anytime soon, but if other teams don’t call Atlanta with a stellar trade offer, the Spurs could swoop in right before the February 8th trade deadline and get Murray back.
