New Orleans Pelicans Young Forward Viewed as Breakout Candidate

An NBA writer has selected a New Orleans Pelicans forward as a young player positioned to breakout during the 2024-25 season.

Apr 27, 2024; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; New Orleans Pelicans Guard Trey Murphy III (25) walks down the court against the Oklahoma City Thunder during fourth quarter of game three of the first round for the 2024 NBA playoffs at Smoothie King Center. / Matt Bush-USA TODAY Sports

The New Orleans Pelicans have a huge logjam to deal with on the perimeter. Head coach Willie Green is going to have his work cut out for him figuring out how to distribute minutes in his backcourt and on the wing.

Dejounte Murray will presumably be taking over as the starting point guard, joining CJ McCollum in the backcourt. Certainly, an upgrade, the biggest losses for the Pelicans this offseason were in the frontcourt, not the backcourt.

A void remains at the center, where veteran Daniel Theis is penciled in as the starter. Could Green opt to go small, starting Zion Williamson in the middle with Brandon Ingram and Trey Murphy joining him in the frontcourt?

Whatever Green decides to do, opening up a larger role for Murphy has to be one of the franchise’s goals during the 2024-25 season. A first-round pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, the Virginia product is ready to handle more playing time.

Over at Bleacher Report, Grant Hughes has pinpointed Murphy as one of the five young players best positioned to break out this upcoming season. As Hughes noted, we have already seen a glimpse of what is to come.

“Though New Orleans wouldn't complain if Murphy's fourth season featured numbers in line with his third (14.8 points, 4.9 rebounds, 2.2 assists and a 38.0 percent clip from long range on 7.0 attempts per game), there's reason to believe those figures will represent his floor going forward.

After March 1 last season, Murphy averaged 18.0 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists on a 46.8/41.7/84.8 shooting split,” Hughes wrote.

We know that Green is comfortable playing Murphy for big minutes. During the team’s first round series against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Murphy averaged 42 minutes per game, starting all four contests.

During the regular season, his role was coming off the bench. Murphy made 57 appearances, starting only 23 times and averaging 29.6 minutes per game. That was actually a decrease from Year 2 when he played 31 minutes. One area that is upticking is his ball-handling opportunities, as Murphy is an elite pick-and-roll player.

“Murphy's average of 1.35 points per play as a pick-and-roll ball-handler ranked in the 99th percentile last season. His usage frequency on such plays was only 5.7 percent, up from 3.0 percent the year before (when he averaged a stellar 1.32 points per play). With Zion around, nobody else figures to be a pick-and-roll spammer. But Murphy showed the capacity for real production in that role and should get more opportunities going forward” wrote Hughes.

An uptick is certainly needed heading into Year 4. But, there is one major roadblock that could keep Murphy from reaching his potential and truly breaking out; Brandon Ingram.

Ingram has been involved in trade rumors all offseason, but all signs are pointing toward him beginning the 2024-25 campaign with New Orleans. If that changes and he is moved, the breakout campaign for Murphy will be cleared for launch.