The San Antonio Spurs have agreed to trade the Atlanta Hawks’ Murray Dejunte in exchange for Danilo Galinari, three future first-round choices and a future first-round choice, confirmed Bill Reiter of CBS Sports HQ on Wednesday. The Spurs will receive a first-round election in 2023 through the Charlotte Hornets and an unprotected first-round election in 2025 and 2027 through the Hawks. The change of choice between Spurs and Hawks will be in 2026.
Murray, selected in the late first round in 2016, comes out of the best season of his career, in which he leads the league in theft and participates in the All-Star Game for the first time. He averaged 21.1 points, 8.3 rebounds, 9.2 assists and two steals, while shooting 46.2 percent of the field. All these grades were high in his career. Now the Hawks will pair him with Trey Young to form one of the best young backs in the league.
As for the Spurs, they are heading for recovery – one that they hope will provide them with their first choice in the NBA draft in 2023 and a chance to take Victor Wembanyama. The 18-year-old French big man, 7 feet 2 meters tall, is widely perceived as a promising generation and has already impressed as a professional in his home country.
Let’s evaluate the trade.
Hawks
you get:
After their surprise climb to the Eastern Conference finals in 2021, the Hawks looked like a team on the rise. Instead, they took a step back last season and had to make a big comeback against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the playoffs, only to sneak into the playoffs as No. 8.
In January, when the team was still below 0.500, GM Travis Schlenk gave an interesting interview in which he admitted that he had read too much about their playoffs in 2021. “Maybe I should lower my expectations for this team,” Schlenk said. . “I have to accept that responsibility, maybe it wasn’t such a great idea to bring everyone back. It’s my job.”
At this point, it was clear that whatever happened in the last few months of last season, the Hawks were facing a transformational summer. To his credit, Schlenk did not wait long to put his words into action and acquired one of the most diverse young guards in the league.
To what extent the Hawks will be able to challenge the established contenders at the top of the East remains to be seen – and will depend on what other moves they make this summer – but they are much better now than they were before the trade. Here’s a look at Murray’s push based on SportsLine scientist Stephen O’s predictions:
Without Murray
41.2
54.6%
1.6%
With Murray
44.0
71.6%
4.8%
Impact
+2.8
+ 17.0%
+ 3.2%
Murray, who was the league leader in theft last season, is one of the best defenders on the perimeter, thanks in large part to his incredible wingspan of 6 feet and 10. He will be able to cover some of Trey Young’s problems from this side of the ball itself will improve the Hawks’ defense, which finished 26th in the league last season and allowed 113.7 points per 100 possessions.
In addition, Murray is a talented playmaker and is coming out of his most effective goal-scoring season. It is worth noting, however, that he is best to finish around the edge or score from the midfield and shoot only 32.7 percent of 3 points last season. This brings out perhaps the most interesting aspect of trading, which is that Young seems to need to play outside the ball more than he has ever done in his career.
Young, who shot 48.1 percent in 3-catch catches and shoots last season (albeit only once per game), is more than capable of doing so. However, this will require a serious buy-in from a player who is used to holding the ball in his hands more than anyone in the league. It will also be interesting to see how this affects the Hawks’ attack. Despite all their defensive problems, they scored at will last season, finishing second in the league with 115.4 points per 100 possessions after Young’s powerful pick-and-roll approach.
But whatever the problems next season, this trade was pointless for the Hawks. They have a 25-year-old All-Star on the rise for what will be a few late selections in the first round if all goes according to plan.
Rating: A
Spurs
you get:
- Danilo Galinari
- First round selection in 2023 through the Charlotte Hornets
- First round selection in 2025 through Atlanta Hawks (unprotected)
- Exchange of choices in the first round in 2026 through the Atlanta Hawks
- First round selection in 2027 through Atlanta Hawks (unprotected)
When the Spurs swapped Derrick White with the Boston Celtics for Josh Richardson, Romeo Langford selected for the first round in 2022 (who became Blake Wesley) and swapped choices in the first round in 2028 at last season’s trading deadline, it came as a bit of a surprise. However, we can now see it as a first step in destruction.
They went on to disassemble their roster on Wednesday, swapping Murray, one of the most interesting young guards in the league, to come out of the best season of his career. At this point, they will not hide their intentions: Spurs are the first to throw in the lottery of Victor Wembanyama.
It is difficult to blame them. Wembanyama, a 7-foot-2, 18-year-old Frenchman, is one of the most intriguing prospects that will ever hit the world stage. Its ridiculous combination of size, length and coordination makes it a destructive defensive force that can trigger any shot in the edge and more than stand alone in the perimeter. In attack, he is a constant threat to lobby and showed an impressive touch away from the basket. (For more, see this breakdown from our own Kyle Boone.)
If the Spurs tank succeeds and they are No. 1 in the NBA Draft in 2023, it could be a league-changing deal. Wembanyama has a chance to be so special. However, the deal invests a lot of shares in winning the lottery, which is not a guarantee given the new equalized odds.
You can have the worst record in the league with 10 games and still easily get number 3. There will still be a good player of this choice, but without Wembanyama. If that happens, you’re really relying on the Hawks to break up in a few years – something less likely now that they have Murray.
The choice for 2023 through the Hornets will probably be in the middle of the first round, and the choice for 2025 through the figures of Hawks will also be in the back half of the first round. The exchange of choices in 2026 and the first in 2027 through Hawks are too far in the future to discuss for sure, but there is a good chance that neither of them is particularly significant. In this very realistic scenario, you didn’t get much for the All Star guard, who entered his heyday.
Of course, the Spurs know all this, as they know that if they detain Murray (and White), they will be left to turn their wheels in mediocrity. Going all in for Wembanyama is a risk, but the potential winnings can change their franchise forever. Only time will tell if their bet will come in.
Assessment: Incomplete
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