The market for Atlanta Hawks star guard Dejounte Murray has not necessarily developed ahead of Thursday’s NBA trade deadline.
More than any other team, we’ve seen Murray’s name linked primarily to the Los Angeles Lakers. According to Jake Fischer of Yahoo! Sports, Los Angeles is only one of two teams that has made an offer to Atlanta for Murray. The other is a surprise in that of the Utah Jazz.
Utah finds itself at 25-26 after Sunday’s blowout win over the Milwaukee Bucks. The team is right in the midst of the playoff race out west. It does appear that front office head Danny Ainge wants to be active over the next few days.
Dejounte Murray stats (2023-24): 21.5 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 5.2 APG, 47% shooting
As for the Lakers, there is a growing sense that LeBron James is attempting to put pressure on the front office to make a needle-moving deal ahead of Thursday’s trade deadline. Though, general manager Rob Pelinka and Co. might end up standing pat in an attempt to keep future NBA Draft capital.
The Lakers are currently 26-25 and the ninth seed in the Western Conference. Any potential trade is complicated by the fact that they don’t boast a ton of future draft assets. Los Angeles is also pushing back against including Austin Reaves in any trade. Instead, the team wants Atlanta to take on D’Angelo Russell’s contract.
Murray, 27, is playing under a four-year, $114.07 million contract extension he signed with Atlanta back in July of last year. Despite his overall stellar play, the Hawks are a mere 22-27 on the campaign and going nowhere fast.