Why Lakers & Hawks Should Consider Possible Dejounte Murray Mega Trade

The Lakers need a new point guard to replace broken D’Angelo Russell and the Hawks need to trade Dejounte Murray to fix their backcourt chemistry and avoid risk of losing him for nothing as a free agent after next season.

While the Lakers should be proud of their post-trade deadline run to the Western Conference Finals, they still face major challenges this offseason. At the heart of those problems is polarizing point guard D’Angelo Russell. There’s no question the Lakers would not have made it to the conference finals without the solid play of D’Angelo Russell. But it’s also obvious from media reports that the Lakers appear to prefer to move on from Russell.

The problem of moving on from Russell is three-fold. First, he’s a free agent who’s no longer worth what he was before the conference finals. Second, any team signing-and-trading for him would be hard capped. Third, you need to find a replacement if you decide to trade him or let him walk in free agency and the feasible options that fit on and off the court are limited, which is why keeping Russell keeps popping up as an option.

Getting the Mavs to agree to sign-and-trade Kyrie to the Lakers or agreeing to to pay VanVleet $30 million per year seem like impossible pipe dreams and those two may be the only available point guards better than Russell. Yet stories about the poor fit between Young and Murray, Dejounte’s decision to decline any extension, and the Hawks’ need to reduce payroll could be hints that the Lakers and Rich Paul are working on a solution.

The Lakers’ top priority is a point guard to take the primary scoring and playmaking workload off of LeBron James and be the team’s aggressive point-of-attack defender with size and length to harass opposing points. Dejounte Murray has the size at 6′ 5″ and length at 6′ 10″ to be the attack dog Darvin Ham and Anthony Davis need to make the Lakers’ defense the best in the league. Murray could ultimately be the Lakers’ future third star.

Let’s look at the details of the proposed trade, why the Lakers should make the trade, why the Hawks should make the trade, and whether the Lakers’ roster and depth chart after the trade are a championship caliber team.

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Proposed Lakers-Hawks Trade

In proposed trade, the Los Angeles Lakers send Malik Beasley, Mo Bamba, Max Christie, #17 pick in 2023 NBA draft, and top-5 protected 2029 first round pick to the Atlanta Hawks for Dejounte Murray and Saddiq Bey.

The trade brings the Lakers an elite young two-way starting point guard in Dejounte Murray to replace D’Angelo Russell, who struggled mightily in the conference finals and whose contract would now just be allowed to expire. The Lakers would also receive a young 3&D wing in Saddiq Bey, who would help fill a void in small forwards to backup LeBron James and help defend the bigger wing scorers that so many of the better teams in the West have.

Dejounte Murray is a 24-year old 6′ 5″ point guard with a 6′ 10″ wingspan who averaged 20.5/5.3/6.1 with 1.5 steals while shooting 46.4/34.4/83.2% in 36.4 mpg while playing shooting guard 70% of his minutes with Hawks. Playing 70% of his time at point guard with the Spurs the year before, Murray averaged 21.1/8.3/9.2 with 2.0 steals while shooting 46.2/32.7/79.4% in 34.8 mpg. That’s the Dejounte Murray the Lakers are going all-in on.

The Hawks get two vets on expiring contracts they can easily flip at the deadline, the Lakers #17 pick this year’s draft, the Lakers’ top-5 protected 2029 first round draft pick, and a promising young guard in Max Christie. Christie is poised to become a regular part of the Lakers’ rotation next season and was essentially untouchable at last year’s trade deadline. He’s clearly worth a solid first round draft pick, which is why he is included.

The beauty of the trade is it’s simplicity. For the Lakers, they upgrade the starting point guard position with a younger, better player who’s the elite point-of-attack defender with size they desperately need to be contenders. Meanwhile, the Hawks get a mulligan for the failed Dejounte Murray trade instead of overreacting and looking to trade franchise face Trae Young in the wake of the disappointing season and the firing of their head coach.

The Dejounte Murray trade is a win-win trade that gives both the Lakers and Hawks a clear and easy way to fix broken backcourts without making complicated risky moves that could backfire and stall their progress.

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Why Lakers Make The Trade

The Lakers’ top offseason priority has now become to replace D’Angelo Russell with a better starting point guard who can take over much of the primary scoring and playmaking responsibilities from LeBron James.

While there’s been online chatter about trading for Hawks’ point guard Trae Young, who like LeBron James is a Klutch Sports Group client, the better fitting target is Trae Young’s backcourt partner Dejounte Murray. While Murray has struggled playing shooting guard while Young plays point guard, his size and skillset as a legitimate 3&D player are perfect fits to play alongside Austin Reaves in the Lakers’ backcourt of the future.

That Murray is also a Klutch Sports Group client should only make the trade more feasible. Rich Paul has already let the Hawks know that Murray is not willing to sign the $25.4 million extension for which he is eligible. Instead, the 24-year old Murray plans to exercise his right to become an unrestricted free agent after the next season, hopefully looking for more than $30 million per season. Hence his availability on the trade market.

Knowing the Hawks gave up three first round picks and a pick swap to get Murray from the Spurs, the Lakers have to make sure their offer gives the Hawks enough incentive to make the trade. That’s where things get tough. The Lakers have to not only give up the #17 pick in this draft and their 2029 first round pick with top-5 protection but also promising young guard Max Christie, who looks like a sure fire bet to be part of next year’s rotation.

Trading for Murray would not only be a difference-maker that could make the Lakers early favorites to win their 18th NBA championship but also a move that raises the team’s ceiling and smooth its post-LeBron transition. Should James decide to retire when his extension ends in two years, the Lakers have been working hard to make sure the team he leaves behind will be the premiere landing spot in the league for top-10 superstars.

The opportunity to trade for a dynamic, young two-way star like Dejounte Murray who has all the tools and talent to become the franchise’s point guard of the future is one the Los Angeles Lakers cannot allow to pass by.

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Why Hawks Make The Trade

The Atlanta Hawks find themselves in difficult position as their move last summer to pair Spurs guard Dejounte Murray with their franchise point guard Trae Young now looks like a major on-court and off-court disaster.

Theoretically, the pairing of Young and Murray was supposed to provide the Hawks with a dynamic backcourt that could both score and defend. The problem is Trae and Dejounte simply do not work well together on-court. When they’re both on the court, the Hawks are only plus 1.6 points per game. When Young is on-court alone, the Hawks are plus 3.8 points but when Murray is on-court alone, Atlanta’s a minus 6.0 points per game.

The Hawks gave up three first round draft picks and a pick swap to trade for Murray last summer, expecting the investment to pay off by the team going further than a 41–41 record, 8th place finish, and first round exit. Now with the new CBA changing the rules and a new head coach in Quin Snyder taking over, the Hawks need to reduce their payroll to better match their prospects, which means probably means trading Dejounte Murray.

A Klutch Sports Group client, Dejounte Murray will be in the last year of his contract and will be looking for a significant raise in excess of $30 million per year summer after next when he becomes an unrestricted free agent. The word is Murray is not willing to sign extension with the Hawks, which means there’s a very strong possibility Atlanta will be looking to move him this summer to avoid the risk of losing him for nothing to free agency.

The Lakers’ offer of Malik Beasley, Mo Bamba, Max Christie, the #17 pick in this draft, and their top-5 protected 2029 first round pick won’t recover what they paid to trade for Murray but it will make them almost whole. Christie and the two picks are obviously the key assets that help the Hawks recover most of what they paid for Murray in the trade with the Spurs. Christie could conceivably start and step right into Murray’s minutes.

As difficult as it is to admit a mistake, the Hawks would be wise to realize trading for a point guard like Dejounte Murray to paid with a point guard like Trae Young was a mistake. Lakers trade gives them a chance to recover.

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Lakers’ 18th Championship Roster

There’s a consensus the Lakers are likely to hard cap themselves for the coming season to avoid luxury taxes and take advantages of exceptions that would enable them to sign free agents they could not sign as a taxpayer.

The above depth chart assumes the Lakers re-sign Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura with Bird rights and Lonnie Walker IV with Early Bird rights to join returning players LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Jarred Vanderbilt. The Lakers sign Brook Lopez with NT MLE, two veteran minimum salary players, Chris Paul from the buyout market, and James Nnaji via the #47 pick in the draft. Finally, they trade for Dejounte Murray and Saddiq Bey

That leaves the Lakers with 13 active players signed and 2 open roster spots, one for a veteran on a minimum salary and one for the $4.4 million BiAnnual Exception the Lakers can use sign a player later in the season. Critically, the Lakers were able to assemble this roster while staying under the $169 million hard cap so they could use the NT MLE and BAE. They will also be able to receive a player via a sign-and-trade at the trade deadline.

The Lakers’ starting lineup of Dejounte Murray, Austin Reaves, LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Brook Lopez should be a dramatic upgrade. The added talent and size should unleash LeBron James and Anthony Davis. The backups are also significantly improved with a fivesome of Chris Paul Lonnie Walker, Saddiq Bey, Rui Hachimura, and James Nnaji, an 18-year old center whom the Lakers choose with the #47 pick in this year’s draft.

Besides filling and upgrading roster holes, the Lakers continue to get younger and more talented while bringing back everybody from the core of their conference finals team. The additions of Murray and Bey matter. They not only upgrade the Lakers’ starting lineup and rotation but also give Rob Pelinka an even more impressive portfolio of valuable and tradeable contracts to use to make midseason adjustments at the trade deadline.

The trade for Dejounte Murray would be the kind of unique, out-of-the-box solutions that not only completely solve the Lakers’ point guard problems but also allow them to bring back and significantly upgrade their core.