The Nets Have Shown Interest in Dejounte Murray, Could the Hawks Land Dorian Finney-Smith Or Nic Claxton in a deal?
The Atlanta Hawks have been rumored to be shopping guard Dejounte Murray in a trade and a number of teams have been involved including the Lakers, Knicks, 76ers, Heat, Pistons, Raptors, and the Nets. While the Lakers have been a team that has seemingly shown the most interest in a Murray trade, don't count out the Nets.
On the Hoopshype podcast recently, ESPN's Bobby Marks named the Nets as a team to watch:
"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."
Dejounte Murray vs the Magic
So what would a deal look like if Atlanta wanted to trade Murray to the Nets?
Just to get it out of the way, Brooklyn is almost certainly not going to trade Mikal Bridges. Bridges is the kind of player that the Hawks need, but Bridges is not likely to be available. Memphis reportedly offered four-first round picks for Bridges at last year's trade deadline and Brooklyn declined.
Brooklyn does have some interesting pieces that might intrigue the Hawks. Atlanta has to build a team around Trae Young, which means defense and three-point shooting. Jalen Johnson is going to be one of those pieces, but everyone else is a possible trade piece.
The most obvious trade pieces the Hawks should be interested in aside from Bridges are forward Dorian Finney Smith and Nic Claxton. Both players are very good defenders and Finney-Smith is shooting 40.4% from three this season. Claxton is not a versatile piece on offense, but he is a good rim protector who would offer the Hawks a lot on defense. Claxton is in the last year of his deal and if Atlanta traded for him, they would likely be extending him. Another guy to look for in a possible trade would be point guard Dennis Smith Jr.
Brooklyn also has a lot of picks due to the trade sending James Harden to Philadelphia and Kevin Durant to Phoenix. Atlanta could look to add one of those players on top of picks.
This could end up being a favorable deal for Atlanta and Brooklyn does have some interesting pieces for a potential Murray trade. Keep an eye on Brooklyn over the next few weeks.
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