RealGM

What trade value does DeJounte Murray have today and do you think the Pelicans would be looking to trade/move off of him right now?

Just a few notes about him…

1.) Murray tore his achilles a few weeks ago and probably won’t be ready for the start of next season (I think it usually takes around a year to recover from this type of injury if I’m not mistaken)
2.) Murray is 28 and will be 29 before the start of next season
3.) Murray is making $29,517,134 this season and is due $31,557,102 during the 2025-26 season, $33,597,070 during the 2026-27 season, & $31,619,503 during the 2027-28 season. However, he has a PO in that final year.

At this moment, he is negative due to the injury. If he were healthy, I would say positive. I would like him on the Kings in DDR's place...
Thinking about how I would fix the Kings, I thought of a 3-way deal

KINGS
In: Vandervilt/Murray
Out:Jonás/DDR

LAKERS
In: Valanciunas
Out: Vandervilt

NOP
In:DDR
Out:Murray

NOP drafts a guard high and gets a replacement for Ingram...cheaper, more available and expiring sooner

Astaluego wrote:At this moment, he is negative due to the injury. If he were healthy, I would say positive. I would like him on the Kings in DDR's place...
Thinking about how I would fix the Kings, I thought of a 3-way deal

KINGS
In: Vandervilt/Murray
Out:Jonás/DDR

LAKERS
In: Valanciunas
Out: Vandervilt

NOP
In:DDR
Out:Murray

NOP drafts a guard high and gets a replacement for Ingram...cheaper, more available and expiring sooner

Can you link that trade thread here? I’d be interested in reading the responses.

I don’t think the Valanciunas for Vanderbilt swap makes a ton of sense for the Kings, but I was already thinking about a DDR for Murray + asset(s) type of deal.

Having said that, I don’t really see the incentive for NOP wanting to take on DeRozan. I would think that NOP would want a player who expires after the 2025-26 season. That would put them in a position to sign a max FA with the following players still under contract…

Zion Williamson
Trey Murphy
Herb Jones
Jordan Hawkins
Yves Missi
Karlo Matkovic
Antonio Reeves
2025 NOP 1st
2026 NOP/MIL 1st (More Favorable)
2026 IND 1st

So we’d need a 3rd team who has that type of contract AND would want DeRozan. Maybe something like this…

MIA Gets: DeMar DeRozan
MIA Gives: Terry Rozier & Asset(s)

NOP Gets: Terry Rozier
NOP Gives: DeJounte Murray & Asset(s)

SAC Gets: DeJounte Murray & Asset(s)
SAC Gives: DeMar DeRozan

- The Heat shed Rozier’s deadweight and get a useful wing to slot in between Herro, Wiggins, & Adebayo.
- The Pelicans get out from underneath Murray’s contract and position themselves to add a max FA next to a solid core.
- The Kings swap in Murray who will hopefully be a better fit and more complementary to the roster than DeRozan and also get some more assets to add to their war chest. Although Murray will be hurt to start the season, perhaps it gives Carter a chance to shine through with some extra minutes.

Clearly negative. He is going to miss a good part of 2025-2026 season and who knows how good he will be when returning.

He is an overrated player and a lower-end starting Point Guard whose a mid-range guy who isn't great at the mid-range shot, isn't a good defender, isn't a good floor spacer and isn't a good playmaker.

He is like De'Aaron Fox without the athleticism to get to the rim or create space. It's just not a player you want to commit assets to, yet Atlanta and New Orleans both committed the same atrocity.

Not bad..I think Miami will aim higher(KD)(although Demar seems like a decent consolation prize)..By the 2026 offseason there will also be more teams with projected cap space, so it shouldn't be hard to move on from DDR.

Torn Achilles and a very mediocre season before that. 3/96 left on his contract after this year. That has to be negative. He isn’t going to give you much next year, and then you hope he recovers fully. He is a player that relys on athleticism so idk. He likely never gets back to All Star caliber

I have him as a solid negative value as well. I wouldnt trade anything of value for that contract/production/situation.

As with the others I'd have him negative.

Next season he's going to be out for some/most of it and unlikely to be near 100% when he does come back.

Then he's got 2 years left but a PO for the 2nd year so even in the best case where he as a good season in 2026-7 you only get 1 good season to go with the 1 lost season.

brackdan70 wrote:Torn Achilles and a very mediocre season before that. 3/96 left on his contract after this year. That has to be negative. He isn’t going to give you much next year, and then you hope he recovers fully. He is a player that relys on athleticism so idk. He likely never gets back to All Star caliber

He might get back to being a productive player, but right now I think he has no trade value.

Who wants to trade something for a player who might miss next year and has 3/96 left on his deal? The only way I see anyone agreeing to that is if a team sent New Orleans a worse contract. In that case, why would NO's do it?

bpcox05 wrote:

Astaluego wrote:At this moment, he is negative due to the injury. If he were healthy, I would say positive. I would like him on the Kings in DDR's place...
Thinking about how I would fix the Kings, I thought of a 3-way deal

KINGS
In: Vandervilt/Murray
Out:Jonás/DDR

LAKERS
In: Valanciunas
Out: Vandervilt

NOP
In:DDR
Out:Murray

NOP drafts a guard high and gets a replacement for Ingram...cheaper, more available and expiring sooner

Can you link that trade thread here? I’d be interested in reading the responses.

I don’t think the Valanciunas for Vanderbilt swap makes a ton of sense for the Kings, but I was already thinking about a DDR for Murray + asset(s) type of deal.

Having said that, I don’t really see the incentive for NOP wanting to take on DeRozan. I would think that NOP would want a player who expires after the 2025-26 season. That would put them in a position to sign a max FA with the following players still under contract…

Zion Williamson
Trey Murphy
Herb Jones
Jordan Hawkins
Yves Missi
Karlo Matkovic
Antonio Reeves
2025 NOP 1st
2026 NOP/MIL 1st (More Favorable)
2026 IND 1st

So we’d need a 3rd team who has that type of contract AND would want DeRozan. Maybe something like this…

MIA Gets: DeMar DeRozan
MIA Gives: Terry Rozier & Asset(s)

NOP Gets: Terry Rozier
NOP Gives: DeJounte Murray & Asset(s)

SAC Gets: DeJounte Murray & Asset(s)
SAC Gives: DeMar DeRozan

- The Heat shed Rozier’s deadweight and get a useful wing to slot in between Herro, Wiggins, & Adebayo.
- The Pelicans get out from underneath Murray’s contract and position themselves to add a max FA next to a solid core.
- The Kings swap in Murray who will hopefully be a better fit and more complementary to the roster than DeRozan and also get some more assets to add to their war chest. Although Murray will be hurt to start the season, perhaps it gives Carter a chance to shine through with some extra minutes.

The problem is the Kings getting Murray who had questionable impact before the awful year/possible career altering injury

Jrue Holiday and Tillman to New Orleans

D. Murray to Washington

Marcus Smart and Herb Jones to Boston?

Larry_Russell wrote:Jrue Holiday and Tillman to New Orleans

D. Murray to Washington

Marcus Smart and Herb Jones to Boston?

Jrue at 35 years old (earning 37 million, at 38 years old) is not going to return a 26-year-old DPOY candidate with one of the best contracts in the league

Unquestionably negative until he shows that he's back to playing high level basketball. He likely plays in the second half of next season, but probably won't round back into form until 26-27.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214687320300054

I could see a team looking to tank next season giving up expirings for Murray and draft assets.

First off I want to say I loved the acquisition and had he not been injured I’d still be happy about it even with this tire fire of a season. He fits really well with the core of the team. In the limited minutes that they played together, he and Zion were a net positive and the team was so banged up that it’s tough to measure his performance because of who he played with. He’s a good third option and he was paid like it. It made sense.

Unfortunately he’s got a debilitating injury and if we are being honest he won’t really be back until 26/27. That’s a negative asset structure for any player other than Kevin Durant.

But the Pels aren’t good enough or desperate enough to use assets to get off his contract so it makes no sense to trade him.

CJ and Alvarado can suffice at the point and there are a lot of draft options at PG too. That’s fine for their ceiling next year as a 5 or 6 seed in the West (provided they get a center and again that’s the ceiling).

Their cap situation is fine, so they don’t have to dump him for luxury tax concerns. And if they blow the whole thing up his injury won’t matter.