New Orleans Pelicans Trey Murphy Opens Up About Difficulties of Hamstring Injury

New Orleans Pelicans wing Trey Murphy is not thrilled about starting the season on the shelf again.

Oct 7, 2024; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; New Orleans Pelicans guard Trey Murphy III celebrates his teamís victory over the Orlando Magic at Smoothie King Center. / Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images

The New Orleans Pelicans are going to be starting the 2024-25 season shorthanded because of the injury that wing Trey Murphy suffered in training camp.

He was diagnosed with a right hamstring strain during practice last week. The team is going to re-evaluate him in three weeks, which means he will likely be sidelined for a chunk of games at the beginning of the campaign.

During practice this week, Murphy was unable to provide a more exact timeline of when he might be able to return to the court.

“With hamstrings, it’s tough,” Murphy said via Christian Clark of NOLA.com. “You don’t know what’s going to happen or how your body is going to respond.”

Unfortunately, starting the year on the sidelines isn’t new to the 2021 first-round pick. Last season it was a left knee injury that cost him the first 19 games of his third season in the NBA.

Right now, he is limited to just shooting the ball and lifting weights; he is not yet cleared to run. After practice on Thursday, he was getting up 3-point shots but admitted this is a tough thing to deal with.

“Very tough,” Murphy said. “Not starting the season again hurts me a lot. Doing everything I can summer-wise to be prepared for a season and having that happen really sucks. But just looking at it with perspective, it could be a lot worse. Good thing it’s an NBA season. I’ll be there for the majority of it.”

October 22nd is when the Pelicans will tip off the regular season against the Chicago Bulls. That is exactly three weeks from when the injury was suffered. Alas, even if he is cleared that day, it will take a little while for him to ramp things up before he is ready to play in an NBA game.

Not only are people keeping a close eye on his health, but the eve of the regular season is an important date as well. That is the deadline for rookie-scale extensions to get done, which he is eligible for.

If a deal isn’t completed, Murphy will be a restricted free agent during the 2025 offseason. That is a worst-case scenario for a cap-conscious New Orleans franchise that has never paid the luxury tax but could be forced to match a massive offer sheet should a team with cap space aggressively pursue their two-way wing.