The Hawks were widely expected to shake up their backcourt this summer, although it wasn’t entirely clear whether that would involve trading Murray or Trae Young.
Moving on from Murray signals the end of a failed bid from Atlanta to take the next step towards contention in the Eastern Conference, having given up Danilo Gallinari and three first-rounders back in 2022 to land the All-Star guard.
For context, the Hawks had gone on an unexpected run to the Conference Finals in the 2020-21 season, only to back it up with a disappointing 2021-22 campaign that put pressure on the front office to make a major move with Young’s supermax extension to kick in.
That led Atlanta to go after Murray in the hope an extra scoring and playmaking threat in the backcourt would help ease the pressure on Young as its go-to guy and improve its defence.
The move failed to pay off though, with Murray and Young never really gelling as a combination while the Hawks failed to take any meaningful steps forward, most recently finishing 10th in the Eastern Conference before being eliminated in the play-in tournament.
In the end, it became clear one of them had to go and Murray, being the better defender and on a cheaper contract, was the more attractive option and is off to New Orleans.
Murray is set to earn $25.5 million next season, while Young is owed $43 million.
The trade will allow Atlanta to rebuild around emerging forward Jalen Johnson, who averaged 16.0 points and 8.7 rebounds in a breakout third season, along with Zaccharie Risacher, who the Hawks took first overall in this week’s draft.
Outside of those two though there could be more movement on Atlanta’s roster, with Yahoo Sports’ Jake Fischer reporting on Saturday that the Hawks are “expected to now gauge trade possibilities for Young, Clint Capela and the rest of their rostered players”.
As for the Pelicans, this move further pushes them into contention in the Western Conference after showing signs of improvement before a Zion Williamson injury derailed their season.
New Orleans views Murray as an ideal closing option alongside Williamson and CJ McCollum, although there is still doubt over whether Brandon Ingram will be on the team next season.
