It was an extra special night in New Orleans, both for Trey Murphy and his mom.
The Pelicans overcame a 23-point deficit to defeat the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday.
Murphy, who was the No. 17 overall pick in the 2021 NBA draft, scored 21 points off the bench. He connected on four 3-pointers, which is the second-most he has made thus far in his professional career. It is the second time he has made four or more 3-pointers this month.
It was extra special because Murphy’s mother, Albeda, was celebrating her birthday. To help her celebrate, the former Virginia standout introduced her to LeBron James — who suffered an injury during the game.
🚨Wholesome content alert🚨
For his mom’s birthday, Trey Murphy III introduced her to @KingJames. She was practically in tears she was so happy. I said, “You understand your son just beat him,” and she said, “But that’s LEBRON!” pic.twitter.com/wcHt7mKogG
— Bill Oram (@billoram) March 28, 2022
The New Orleans rookie snapped a photo of the two of them together and according to Orange County Register reporter Kyle Goon, his mother even “screamed” in delight.
A very surreal backstage experience: As LeBron was limping out, Pelicans hero Trey Murphy was waiting with his parents and asked for LeBron for a picture for his mother’s birthday. Trey snapped a pic, LeBron hugged her, and as he got a few steps away she *screamed* with delight.
— Kyle Goon (@kylegoon) March 28, 2022
As awesome as it was to see her son break 20 points in an NBA game, it had to have been a “pinch me, I’m dreaming!” moment to have him be the one to connect her with LeBron. After all, he has come an incredibly long way over the past few years.
Before he transferred to Virginia, the sharpshooter played college basketball at Rice University. During his pre-draft interview with me, he told me about that long and winding journey (via HoopsHype):
“In all honesty, I wasn’t underrecruited in high school. I was where I was supposed to be during the time recruiting was happening going into my senior year. I was like 6-foot-3 and maybe 150 pounds soaking wet. You can’t really say, oh yeah, he’s a high-major player. I didn’t have the body for it. That’s a super important piece of recruiting.”
Now, only in his first professional season, Murphy is already a positive-impact contributor for a team that could make the playoffs. If he has his way, that’s exactly what will happen.
After beating the Lakers, Murphy told reporters about a recent interaction with his barber.
Murphy said his barber told him he thought the Pelicans would be good “next year” and the New Orleans rookie then confidently told him that fans would not even have to wait that long.
