When Dejounte Murray was traded to the Atlanta Hawks, many were excited about the prospect of him being Trae Young's backcourt partner. Due to his reputation as a top-tier defender, he would be a secondary playmaker and scorer while playing as the primary stopper.
Unfortunately, Murray had two rough campaigns on the defensive side of the ball. He did not have the same defensive impact from his San Antonio Spurs days, which led to a chunk of the Hawks fan base resenting him. This became part of the discourse after his trade to the New Orleans Pelicans , and he has thrown some veiled shots at his former teammates and coaches.
“I value playing the right way. Defense wins championships, and of course, you have to score the ball too, but it’s something for me that when I know I'm playing defense but you've got a group of guys playing defense, it’s something you can’t teach,” Murray said in his introductory interview with the Pelicans. “I love defense but it's a team thing. You can have one guy playing defense or two and the rest not and nothing happens.”
Murray had reservations about Atlanta’s defensive schemes
The Hawks fans were confused when Murray regressed defensively. He had a sterling reputation as a stopper and a dangerous player in the passing lanes. The newest Pelicans guard could still steal the ball, but his one-on-one defense dipped.
After getting a superb 108.5 defensive rating during the 2021/22 season with the Spurs, he had a defensive rating of 117.85 in his two-year stint with the Hawks. That was a massive fall-off for a lauded defender who led the league in steals in 2022 while earning an All-Star Game appearance and an All-Defensive Second Team nod.
For Murray, he felt that head coach Quin Snyder was not allowing him to shine as a defender like how Gregg Popovich did in San Antonio.
“Another casual that don’t watch hoops or really know what’s going on with his favorite team! Ask your head coach why when I begged him for me to guard the best players, I was told they wanna save my energy for scoring… You will see a Monster on defense 24-25 SZN,” Murray said in a since-deleted post on X (formerly Twitter).
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Murray vows to play better in New Orleans
With this newfound motivation to prove the doubters wrong, Dejounte wants to become a top defender again. Since he is playing alongside an elite perimeter defender in Herb Jones, the future is bright for the young guard on the defensive end.
Dejounte is also excited to play more of a supporting role behind Zion Williamson , whom he considers the undisputed superstar of the Pelicans. It would be interesting to see how Murray plays because he can be a secondary star, but that would depend on what NOLA has planned with Brandon Ingram.
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