Tonight is the NBA Draft, the night where talented, young college and overseas players find out what team they’re going to. Well, now in 2022, the NBA Draft has become the day where NBA stars are in trade talks and some result into trades immediately. We’ve already heard that Bradley Beal and John Collins are in trade rumors. What we hadn’t heard before just recently is that San Antonio, the most loyal organization in the history of the game, is possibly flipping their 25 year old phenom point guard Dejounte Murray. I understand that they could gain some valuable assets for Murray. But in my opinion, getting rid of Dejounte Murray would be a decision San Antonio would regret for years to come. This is why the San Antonio Spurs would be stupid to trade Dejounte Murray!
1st of all, what teams have a very realistic chance of getting him? I’d say, from the rumors that have been released, that the Washington Wizards and Atlanta Hawks have the best chance to get Murray. Especially Atlanta, since they would get rid of their #2 player next to Trae Young (John Collins) to get Murray while Washington would keep their top 2 in-tacked and use secondary options like Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and 1st round picks to get Murray. These deals would look something like this:
This would officially put the Spurs into a tanking type rebuild mode. But I think that is the wrong decision. While this is a lot of assets for Murray, he is still such a talented player. Murray is coming off of a season where he averaged 21 points, 9 assists, 8 rebounds and a league leading 2 steals per game. He ranked 2nd in rebounds per game for all guards and 4th in assists per game. He also had the most triple doubles in a season in Spurs history with 13, which also ranked him 2nd in the entire NBA in this category.
Something else that is so valuable about Murray is that he is only making about $16.5 million per year which is super cheap for someone with his value. If you look at game score, a statistic to describe how well an NBA player was statistically per game, Murray put up the same production in this year’s regular season as Stephen Curry, who is making about $48 million per year. This gives San Antonio an extra $31.5 million in cap space than they could have had if they were paying Murray the statistical value he is equal to.
And San Antonio also has young talent that could continue to develop around him. Young pieces like Keldon Johnson, Lonnie Walker III, Joshua Primo and Devin Vassell haven’t gotten close to their peak yet. Add the three 1st round picks San Antonio has tonight and all of a sudden you have a core of 8 young players that are only going to continue to develop. Why would San Antonio get rid of that chance? Murray is too talented to not build around when you have the chance. Can you name me a player in the NBA that can score, pass, rebound and defend at one of the highest levels in the NBA? The only players I can think of that could possibly fit this criteria are LeBron James, Jimmy Butler, Kawhi Leonard and Giannis Antetokounmpo, but LeBron isn’t that level on defense, Butler isn’t at scoring and Kawhi and Giannis aren’t at passing. Murray can do all of those things. Why would San Antonio get rid of this opportunity?
Chase Coburn
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