New Orleans Pelicans Exec Gushes About Early Dejounte Murray Returns

The New Orleans Pelicans vice president joined the NBA Summer League to gush about their new guard, Dejounte Murray.

Nov 25, 2022; Houston, Texas, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard Dejounte Murray (5) celebrates his three point basket against the Houston Rockets in the second quarter at Toyota Center. / Thomas Shea-USA TODAY Sports

The New Orleans Pelicans made a splash trade, and in a short time, the team has begun to feel pretty good about it. They added former All-Star guard Dejounte Murray from the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for Dyson Daniels, Larry Nance Jr. and two first-round selections.

Murray has been a vocal player throughout his career and that has not changed that since being traded.

Pelicans Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations David Griffin recently joined the ESPN2 broadcast of New Orleans' first NBA Summer League game. He took the chance to speak highly of their recently added guard.

"I think we probably underestimated how important he was going to be from a vocal leadership standpoint," he said.

It's clear that Murray has been in communication with his teammates, as he made the effort to appear at the summer league game to meet up with a couple of Pelicans players.

Dejounte Murray Posted This Photo On IG Of Him Talking With Jordan Hawkins After Game 1 Of Summer League pic.twitter.com/MBC0dGGFbS

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"He's come in and been very alpha right from the beginning. He's recruiting free agents for us, he's doing a great job of bringing the veterans together, and sort of being a conduit for everybody in our organization," Griffin added. "We feel incredibly blessed that he's with us and it worked out really well."

The 27-year-old spent the first few seasons of his career with the San Antonio Spurs where he looked like one of the best point guards in the league at some points.

His best season came when he was an All-Star in 2021-22.. He averaged 21.1 points per game with 9.2 assists and 8.3 rebounds. He also led the league with 2.0 steals a night.

The Hawks traded for him two years ago in hopes of creating an elite backcourt. The fit was fairly poor, which is why they have already decided to move on.

"One of the things that happened when he went from San Antonio to Atlanta, he became much less ball-dominant," Griffin said. "He was playing off a ball-dominant play creator in Trae [Young]. A lot of what makes Dejounte special is his ability to make the right read."

Murray moving back to point guard and taking control of the New Orleans offense seems like the best thing for all parties involved.

C.J. McCollum has been the head of the offense since joining and clearly needs to return to his off-ball role that he held with Damian Lillard on the Portland Trailblazers.

The first chance that fans will get to see the new-look Pelicans is still a few months away, but Murray has had as good of a start with the team as one could ask.