The Atlanta Hawks were desperately looking for another star.
After this unexpectedly joyful trip to the playoffs in 2021, their poor performance last season in the much-improved Eastern Conference was a major problem for all participants. Ownership pressures are growing – again – especially with Trae Young’s Supermax extension, which is set to launch for the 2022-23 campaign.
The high stakes meant it was high time to make a new move; to raise the collective ceiling of this group, which showed so many promises two seasons ago.
The loss of five games in the first round from Miami clearly showed how much the Hawks need a second playmaker on the perimeter next to Young. The organization believed this was necessary before the series, sources told The Athletic, and this was underscored only by Heat’s ability to pursue an Atlanta All-NBA guard and force him to leave the ball at an unprecedented level. Atlanta did not have the result or threats to play to fully compensate for Young’s withdrawal from Miami’s fitness and length.
Enter the 2021-22 All Star Dejounte Murray, the San Antonio Spurs guard who heads to Atlanta in exchange for Danilo Galinari, the 2023 top 16 first-round defensive choice through Charlotte, the 2025 and 2027 unprotected first-round election and the Change of Choice in 2026, which is also unprotected, sources told The Athletic. It’s a winning move, if there ever was one, a clear sign that the Hawks are committed to maximizing Young’s era while supporting the defense, which ranks 26th in points allowed per 100 possessions last season. But it’s also a huge price to pay, a kind of move or break, a mortgage on your future that will be monitored and checked for years to come.
The Hawks hope this is going well enough that Murray will want to stay after his current contract expires in the summer of 2024 (he owes $ 16.5 million and $ 17.7 million over the next two seasons). Murray is eligible to sign a three-year extension this offseason worth up to $ 74.7 million after incentives, but he is unlikely to agree to such now after the All Star season he just had with the Spurs. In the short term, the Hawks just have to find a way to fight again in the Eastern Conference, with Boston, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Miami and Brooklyn remaining great as always.
Just a week ago, Landry Fields, the future general manager of Atlanta, said that the front office was “obliged to improve and we want to get better.” The Hawks are better and have the potential for even more improvements in the coming days.
With all the signs that continue to point to an exchange of John Collins in the near future of the Hawks, it is difficult to limit Atlanta’s potential for next season and beyond without knowing their return to this highly anticipated deal. Sources say that trade talks about this deal with Murray initially involved Collins before the Spurs turned around.
It is also possible that the Hawks will explore the trade with Kevin Huerter or Bogdan Bogdanovic, who may be turning to bench roles as a result of the addition of Murray. Huerter signed a four-year, $ 65 million contract last offseason, while Bogdanovich owed $ 18 million this season and is recovering from off-season knee surgery that is expected to remove him during training camp.
Murray was the only player to average at least 21 points, nine assists and eight rebounds last season, with only Luka Doncic and James Harden close. Murray is not a threat from the perimeter, shooting just 33.3 percent of 3 in his career and only 32.7 percent last season. He is not Clay Thompson for Young’s oft-cited basketball double, Steph Curry. It’s not even close.
While Murray is one of the league’s best-scoring goals inside the perimeter, making 44 per cent of his midfielders and 64 per cent of his attempts on the edge, he had 26.8 per cent use, far surpassing that of Huerter ( 16.9), Unprotected Hawks. Murray will need the ball, and Young may need to master the art of playing outside the ball like, well, Curry. This will be a correction for Young and Murray, as the two All-Stars played 100 percent of their minutes as a point guard last season, according to Cleaning the Glass.
And yet, since Young entered the league, the Hawks have always believed that they can fully deploy the best version of Young if he embraces moving the ball. This skill is not entirely new to Young, who did it extensively in his days at AAU along with Denver Nuggets striker Michael Porter Jr. In his limited attempts outside the NBA, Young was brilliant. Last season, he scored 1.3 points for possession on the spot, ranking in the 97th percentile, according to Synergy Sports. Young made 48.1% of his 77 attempts for 3 points to catch and shoot last season.
Now that Young has a rival in Murray who can run the show with or without him on the floor, the Hawks can unlock their superstar’s full offensive arsenal. All it took was a partially guaranteed Galinari contract, a horde of project assets, and several tense days of negotiations.
As Hawks and Spurs talked about the deal late last week and over the weekend, there was a sense of confusion and mistrust on the part of some of the parties involved on the part of Atlanta. Were the Spurs really ready to part with the 25-year-old, who is considered one of the best talents under the radar in the league? Would you really welcome a full recovery during the years of Greg Popovich’s twilight? The Hawks knew the price would be high for Murray to land, but the chance of solving so many of their problems by pairing him with Young in the backfield was too good to miss.
Then came the annoying silence. Sources say the Spurs have been silent for a long time earlier this week, with Hawks officials wondering internally whether San Antonio could withdraw from a possible deal or perhaps gain momentum in trade talks elsewhere. The timing was crucial on the part of the Hawks, as Galinari’s $ 21.45 million contract for this season had to be fully guaranteed by Wednesday night.
Yet while John Kravczynski of The Athletic announced that there had been talks on Murray between the Spurs and Minnesota last week, the Timberwolves’ front office was clearly not comfortable going all-in to grab it. Knicks was reported as a possible landing site for Murray, but a source familiar with their discussions said they had not spoken to San Antonio about him. Atlanta, meanwhile, was clearly determined to find another talent on the elite wing.
As negotiations for Murray unfold, sources say the Hawks are closely following the situation in Brooklyn and – like many other teams in the league – are seriously preparing for the possibility of Nets star Kevin Durant to request an exchange. While Kyrie Irving’s decision to choose the final year of her contract brought a quick end to the chatter with Durant, Hawks’ interest speaks volumes about the scope and urgency of their search.
After all, Murray was their man.
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(Top photo of Dejounte Murray: Brett Davis / USA Today)
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