From a purely statistical standpoint, guard Dejounte Murray has played some of the best basketball of his career in his two seasons with the Atlanta Hawks—averaging north of 20 points per game in both 2023 and ’24.
From a results standpoint, the Hawks have fallen short of where they thought they would be after their surprise run to the 2021 Eastern Conference finals. Atlanta finished ’23 at .500 and is now 15–21 to start ’24.
With this in mind, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the Hawks are looking to make a deal—and the Los Angeles Lakers could be the perfect trade partner.
“Atlanta’s ready to trade Dejounte Murray,” Wojnarowski said Friday. “They’ve given some time to the Trae Young-Dejounte Murray backcourt—they're ready to move on from it...they have talked to the (Los Angeles) Lakers. They’ve exchanged some ideas on a potential trade.”
"Dejounte Murray is the player that they're engaged around the league with. They have talked to the Lakers." 👀 @wojespn on the Hawks' plans for Murray. pic.twitter.com/Bt7eire6Dy
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) January 12, 2024
The Lakers, in a state of malaise since winning the NBA’s inaugural in-season tournament on Dec. 9, are currently 19–20—10th in the Western Conference standings.
“[The Hawks] want to get some value back for [Murray]. So you look at that Lakers roster and you say, ‘What value do they have that can compete in the marketplace?’” Wojnarowski said. “I think the Lakers are gonna be in this, but there are a number of teams interested.”
