ATLANTA — Trae Young finally has an All-Star for a backcourt partner. The Hawks traded for Dejounte Murray on Thursday. It’s a great pairing on paper. Whether it works in reality depends largely on Young. He’s met every challenge during his short career. This is a new one.
Young’s trust in letting his teammates run the offense has seemed to come and go over the years. Can’t knock him too much for that. No one is better with the ball than Young. Murray comes closest. Now Young has a teammate he should defer to more than occasionally. Will he do so?
Murray is a better defender than any guard who’s ever started alongside Young. But the Hawks have been a bad defensive team in each of Young’s four seasons. He’s a big reason for that. Murray’s defensive impact will be blunted if Young doesn’t do his part. Can he do that?
Those are the big questions for Young as he teams with Murray. To acquire Murray, Hawks President Travis Schlenk gave up forward Danilo Gallinari and three first-round draft picks. Gallinari still has value as a bench scorer, but the picks are the big cost. If the Young-Murray pairing doesn’t work out, then Schlenk’s escape routes via the draft are severely limited.
I see the gamble paying off. Schlenk said Murray is an “elite” two-way guard. That’s been true for only one season, but Murray is just 25 years old. He’s still on the come. I’m confident that Young will do what’s necessary to make the partnership work. He wants to win a championship, and the Hawks are better suited to make a playoff run after swapping Murray for Gallinari.
Young registered his approval of the trade on Twitter. Soon he’ll start the process of figuring out the best way to work with Murray. There’s only one ball, as the saying goes, and neither Young nor Murray is accustomed to sharing it.
Young had the ball for 8.7 minutes per game last season. That’s third most in the league, per NBA data. Murray’s time of possession was 7.4 minutes per game, tied for seventh most. Young ran the most pick-and-rolls in the league by far. Murray ranked sixth. Something has to give.
Murray started his career as a combo guard but ran point for the Spurs over the past three seasons. He’ll take pressure off Young to be the primary ballhandler and set up Young for scoring chances. Murray also can get points on his own. That will mean Young won’t have to shoulder so much of the scoring burden.
There are some potential pitfalls for the pairing. Murray is a below-average shooter, and Young hasn’t been great at moving off the ball. Defenders who don’t have to worry much about Murray shooting 3-pointers can help contain Young. If Young stands and watches Murray, then his man can sag off to help. Young has said he’s willing to play more off the ball. We’ll find out soon if he means it.
Young also will have to do better work on defense for the pairing with Murray to reach its full potential. He was voted third-team All-NBA last season. He probably would have been first- or second-team if his defense were average or close to it. None of Steph Curry, Ja Morant and Luka Doncic were as good as Young on offense, but they all were adequate defenders. Young’s defense undercuts the value of his scoring and playmaking.
Young had the worst defensive rating (points allowed per possession) among Hawks regulars in 2021-22. Sometimes that number can be misleading. There are so many interdependent variables, and small sample sizes can confound the formula. But Young’s defensive rating has ranked among the worst in the league for all his four seasons. Most important, the numbers match what we see from Young on defense.
Maybe Murray will help him raise his level on defense. Delon Wright and Kent Bazemore probably are the best perimeter defenders Young has played with. Murray is better. In 2017-18, he broke Kobe Bryant’s record as the youngest player voted to the All-Defensive team. Murray has been schooled in San Antonio’s defensive culture, which stresses all the things the Hawks struggle to do.
Getting Murray was a major move for Schlenk after he essentially stood pat last offseason. Hawks principal owner Tony Ressler said the Hawks got “complacent” following the team’s run to the 2021 Eastern Conference finals. The clock is ticking on the Murray deal. He’s under contract for the next two seasons, and the Hawks will have to decide whether to offer him a contract extension before then.
With Murray, the Hawks should guard better and be more versatile on offense. They should be a deep team again in 2022-23. The Hawks have a few more holes to fill, though.
Kevin Huerter and Bogdan Bogdanovic should offset the loss of Gallinari’s bench scoring. However, now there’s no veteran among the options at backup power forward. One of Young or Murray likely will always be on the court, but a third point guard will get minutes. Adding expensive free agents would mean a significant luxury tax bill for the Hawks, so it’s possible that one of their young players will have to take on a larger role.
The trade for Murray took care of the team’s biggest need: a playmaker, scorer and defender to pair with Young. Young has played with All-Stars before. But Vince Carter, Jeff Teague and Rajon Rondo were past their primes. Murray just had a career-best season and should get only better.
I think the Young-Murray backcourt will work out great for the Hawks. It’s on Young to prove me right.
