The first domino of the offseason fell last night when the Hawks selected Zaccharie Risacher with the #1 pick in the draft. Other than that, there were no fireworks from Landry Fields and the rest of the Atlanta front office. However, most believe those are coming sooner rather than later, with all eyes on Trae Young and Dejounte Murray.
The duo simply hasn’t worked out like the Hawks envisioned. The fit was always wonky with two ball dominant point guards teaming up, but I’m not sure anyone could have predicted just how abysmal the two would be together. By themselves, they look like All-Stars. Together, it’s a disaster, and the sample size is now large enough for the Hawks to understand it’s never going to be successful.
One of them has to be traded, but the answer isn’t clear as to who, and a lot of it will depend on what the Hawks can get for each in return. Most would expect Trae Young to fetch a better package, but according to Bobby Marks of ESPN, that’s not the case. Not only did Marks say Young won’t get a return similar to what the Nets just received for Mikal Bridges, but he added that Dejounte Murray actually has a higher value as of right now.
Trae Young is not expected to fetch a trade package similar to those of Mikal Bridges or Rudy Gobert on the trade market, per @BobbyMarks42
“Dejounte Murray actually has more value than Trae Young at this stage” pic.twitter.com/uKVTzm3GDf
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) June 26, 2024
This isn’t necessarily the most shocking report. I don’t think anybody is arguing that Trae Young is a better player than Dejounte Murray. He’s proven to be a legit All-NBA talent that has already led a team to an Eastern Conference Finals.
With that being said, Dejounte Murray’s contract has to be regarded as one of the most team-friendly across The Association. Guys like OG Anunoby are signing contracts for north of $40 million per season this offseason, while Murray signed a contract extension that will pay him less than $30 million per year over the next three seasons. That’s a bargain for an All-Star caliber talent. Meanwhile, Trae Young has just two years remaining on his contract and is set to make over $95 million over the next two seasons.
Young may be the better player, but is he $20 million better than Murray per year? I’m not so sure, and the fact that Murray is under contract for a year longer is the icing on the cake.
Not only am I not surprised teams may prefer Dejounte Murray over Trae Young, but the Hawks might as well. Don’t be shocked if it’s actually Murray the Hawks choose to build around moving forward.
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Photo: Melissa Tamez/Icon Sportswire
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