NBA Expert's Bold Prediction for New Orleans Pelicans Wing Hints at Unexpected Role

A New Orleans Pelicans wing has been predicted to finish near the top of one award vote, but not one many people would expect.

Sep 30, 2024; New Orleans, LA, USA; New Orleans Pelicans guard/forward Trey Murphy III (25) takes part in Pelicans Media Day. / Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images

For the second consecutive season, New Orleans Pelicans wing Trey Murphy is going to be starting the season on the sidelines.

Early on in training camp, he suffered a hamstring injury that was going to be re-evaluated in three weeks. Tonight, which is the team’s season opener against the Chicago Bulls, is the three-week mark.

Hopefully, he is cleared to begin basketball activities and will shortly start ramping up his activity. He is going to miss at least a few games as the Pelicans aren’t going to push him too hard this early in the campaign.

There are bigger goals in mind that can only be achieved with a healthy Murphy producing in the lineup.

It will be interesting to see what head coach Willie Green decides to do when he is ready to return.

Many people have clamored to see him in the starting lineup, believing he is ready for it. When Zion Williamson went down with an injury in the NBA Play-In Game in April, it was Murphy who Green tabbed as the starter in the playoff series vs. the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The newly extended wing started all four games, averaging 42 minutes per contest. He is someone the coaching staff trusts and he should be in for a bigger role.

However, some NBA experts don’t expect that bigger role to be in the starting lineup. One of them is Chris Herring of ESPN.

In a recent article, predictions were made about who will be winning some awards for the 2024-25 campaign. Herring has predicted Murphy will finish second in the Sixth Man of the Year voting, behind Grayson Allen of the Phoenix Suns.

“Assuming he bounces back from his preseason hamstring injury, this has the potential to be a huge year for Murphy. Like Allen's situation in Phoenix, Murphy will benefit with the Pelicans finally having a lead guard in Dejounte Murray to spread the ball around. (CJ McCollum was beyond solid handling that, but he, too, should benefit from not having to set up as much offensively.) The beauty of New Orleans' streamlined starting lineup is that Murphy could theoretically replace almost any one of the five starters since there isn't a traditional center among the group. Put another way: He'll have plenty of opportunities to leave his mark,” Herring wrote.

That is a bold prediction for several reasons. 

The biggest is that he believes the Virginia product won’t factor into the mix as a starter for the Pelicans this season. By extension, that means Herring doesn’t believe Brandon Ingram is going to be traded, either.

His reasoning for selecting Murphy to finish high in the award voting does make a lot of sense if that is the route Green goes. Leaning into position-less basketball means major minutes for all of the team’s wing players who can move up and play some minutes at front court spots as well.