Lakers News: Pelicans-Hawks Dejounte Murray Trade Talks Stall, Opening Window For LA

Will LA take a big swing this deadline?

It appears your Los Angeles Lakers’ biggest rival for acquiring the services of Atlanta Hawks star combo guard Dejounte Murray has now effectively removed itself from the arena.

Sources inform Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report that a possible negotiation between Atlanta and the New Orleans Pelicans has stopped. Haynes adds that it seems unlikely the chatter will resume. Effectively, this means that Murray will now know he was very close to being moved, and it gives the Hawks just a few hours to reroute him before today's noon PT trade deadline.

A one-time All-Star and All-Defensive Team honoree when with the San Antonio Spurs, Murray has heretofore failed to mesh alongside Hawks All-Star Hawks point guard Trae Young during their underwhelming time together. Part of that is probably due to the fact that Murray is more of a natural point guard than an off-guard, and thrives better with the ball in his hands. The fact that Young is also a ball hog and a terrible defender sure doesn’t help, either.

But that doesn’t mean Murray can’t thrive in LA, where presumably he’d return to the point, as current Lakers starting lead guard D’Angelo Russell’s contract is a near-perfect match with Murray’s.