Analyst Says the Brooklyn Nets Might be the Best Fit for Dejounte Murray
Atlanta Hawks guard Dejounte Murray has been at the center of NBA trade talks and a lot of analysts and insiders around the NBA expect him to be traded before the February 8th trade deadline.
Over the past month, the Lakers, Knicks, 76ers, Raptors, and even the Detroit Pistons have come up as possibilities for Murray. ESPN's Bobby Marks was on the HoopsHype Podcast recently and brought up another team that he thinks might be a fit for Murray and that is the Nets.
Here is what Marks had to say regarding Murray and a potential fit with the Nets:
"You know where he would be a good fit? Brooklyn. A guard that can score and kind of create for others. I look at this Nets team as one-dimensional. If they’re not making threes, they’re no better than Detroit, San Antonio, and some of the teams at the bottom here. You basically have Mikal Bridges, who’s number three on a really good championship team. He’s your third-best player. Cam Johnson is a nice starter for you. Then what do you have after that? You’ve got a bunch of big wings. You’ve got Nicolas Claxton, who’s going to be a free agent, and you’ve got draft capital.
What would the cost be (for Murray)? You watched the Portland game the other night, and I think we can say that the writing is on the wall for Spencer Dinwiddie after he was benched in crunch time for Dennis Smith Jr. Does it cost you Dinwiddie and maybe one of the Phoenix picks that maybe you can put some protection on?
Even if Dinwiddie, Claxton, and Royce O’Neale leave, what are you left with $25 million in cap space? Nobody’s talking about Ben Simmons anymore. That Simmons number at $38 million is sitting there. It’s $40 million next year, and it’s going to continue to sit there until he can get on the court, and I have no idea when that’s going to be."
Will the Hawks trade Dejounte Murray?
It is not a given that the Hawks trade Murray. Becomes he is on a team-friendly extension, the Hawks should not be in a rush to deal Murray for just anything. The deal has to be right for the team moving forward and that might not materialize until the summer.
In a new report yesterday from NBA insider Jake Fischer, he says that Murray is the all-star that is most likely to be dealt and that the five teams he named to watch were the Lakers, Heat, Knicks, 76ers, and Pistons. In previous reports, the Lakers, 76ers, and Knicks have been linked to Murray the most.
Here is what Fischer had to say about Murray.
"That leaves us with Murray, a 27-year-old, 6-foot-5 combo guard posting career numbers, before a four-year, $114 million extension kicks in for the 2024-25 campaign. His defensive reputation may have proven overstated since coming out of San Antonio, but Murray is still valued as a true plus on that end of the floor. Combine all of his production with the looming new ramifications of a harsher second luxury-tax apron, and Murray’s longterm number is considered relatively modest for his talents.
That’s left Atlanta in a good transaction position as the Hawks have floundered outside of the play-in picture for much of this first full season under head coach Quin Snyder. This roster hasn’t brought the juice Atlanta anticipated, particularly the Murray-Trae Young partnership the Hawks splurged to create two summers ago. But Atlanta, upon further review, still has the goal of moving Murray — and possibly moving other veterans like Clint Capela or De’Andre Hunter — to reshuffle its deck for a postseason hunt this spring, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
Murray has generated a substantial market during preliminary conversations around the league. The Hawks have been considered one of the more aggressive front offices this season, sources said, in terms of teams that have been willing to approach rival executives with actual trade concepts as opposed to general interest in specific players. And at this juncture, to varying degrees, the Lakers, Knicks, Sixers, Heat and Pistons are five suitors expected to engage Atlanta about acquiring Murray over the coming days and weeks before Feb 8."
You can read the full story at Yahoo Sports here.
The next four weeks are going to be interesting for the direction of the franchise.
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