New Trade Proposal Sends Dejounte Murray, not Trae Young, To The Lakers

Jackson Caudell | May 2, 2024

Jan 30, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard Dejounte Murray (5) is defended by Los / Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

All of the talk of the Lakers trading for a member of the Hawks has involved Los Angeles getting Trae Young, but the Lakers had their eyes on the other Hawks guard leading up to this year's trade deadline and might have a better chance of landing him than Young.

Before diving deeper into this, it should be noted that the Hawks have not made Young available for trade and Young has not asked to be traded. This is all just speculation and I still think Young will remain in Atlanta when all is said and done this summer. It seems that Atlanta is heading towards breaking up their backcourt of Young and Dejounte Murray, but that could mean that Murray is the one who is traded. Atlanta was shopping Murray this season, including to the Lakers.

What would an offer for Murray look like? Here is what Bleacher Report's Andy Bailey offered up as a possible proposal:

The Deal: Dejounte Murray for Rui Hachimura, Gabe Vincent, Jalen Hood-Schifino, a 2029 first-round pick and a 2030 first-round pick swap

" The Lakers could easily talk themselves into thinking they were better than a typical No. 7 seed. It took far too long for head coach Darvin Ham to resort to his most obvious starting five (D'Angelo Russell, Reaves, LeBron, Hachimura and Davis).

From Feb. 1 to the end of the season, the Lakers were 23-10 with the third-best offense in the league. They led the majority of the minutes in their first-round series with Denver. Two of the four losses ended with backbreaking mid-range jumpers by Nuggets guard Jamal Murray.

Unloading their best assets for a huge name like Young, which would in turn impact the team's depth and have it in danger of flirting with the dreaded second apron, might make less sense than bringing in a new coach and taking a shot on Young's former All-Star teammate.

This season, when Young was off the floor, Murray had a slightly positive plus-minus and averaged 25.2 points and 8.3 assists per 75 possessions. The potential fit with him, Davis and LeBron isn't quite as clean as it is with Young, but the defense would be better, and L.A. would likely have to give up less to get Murray.

If Russell picks up his player option, this trade framework could also allow the Lakers to pair him with another first-rounder in a separate deal.

For the Hawks, this would be another bet on Young, who's still only 25 years old and led Atlanta to a conference finals prior to the all-in trade for Murray. It'd give them more depth at both forward and guard, some potential in Jalen Hood-Schifino and draft capital to offset what they gave up for Murray."

While I don't think what the Lakers have to offer is good enough for a player like Young, this is not bad value for Murray. Hachimura would give the Hawks an interesting option at forward, Vincent would take over as the backup point guard, and the Hawks would have draft capital that they could hold onto or trade for someone else. I think there might be better offers for Murray, but this is not a bad one.

On ESPN's Get Up this week, ESPN's Brian Windhorst brought up Young as a trade target for the Lakers this offseason:

"There are opportunities for them, not necessarily in free agency, but via trade. They will have up to three first round picks that they can trade, starting on draft night, including this year's first-round pick if they want to and they have some pieces on their roster that they can use in trade. Now, what player would that be? Well, we will have to see what happens with star players as the season ends across the league. I think one name that you will hear as we get into this is Trae Young from the Atlanta Hawks. The Hawks may look to break up their backcourt of Young and Dejounte Murray. The Lakers were interested in trading for Dejounte Murray during this season. Trae is the type of player that multiple teams will have interest in if the Hawks decide to make a move. I am not sure that he solves a lot of what the Lakers ills were, perimeter defense was an issue for the Lakers this season and in this series, that is something that Trae is not going to help with, but he is definitely a guy that will supercharge your offense and he would look potentially amazing next to LeBron and AD, but there are other options and things that will develop over the next two months."

There are going to be plenty of rumors concerning the Hawks and many of them might involve the Lakers. It is going to be an interesting summer across the NBA and the Hawks are going to be in the middle of it.