{"id":83548,"date":"2024-06-28T20:20:06","date_gmt":"2024-06-29T00:20:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=83548"},"modified":"2024-10-26T10:50:33","modified_gmt":"2024-10-26T14:50:33","slug":"pelicans-hawks-execute-highly-anticipated-offseason-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/06\/28\/pelicans-hawks-execute-highly-anticipated-offseason-trade\/","title":{"rendered":"Pelicans, Hawks Execute Highly Anticipated Offseason Trade"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Atlanta Hawks have traded <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/murrade01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dejounte Murray<\/a> to the New Orleans Pelicans, per ESPN\u2019s Adrian Wojnarowski.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Full trade on ESPN: Dejounte Murray for Larry Nance Jr., Dyson Daniels, 2025 first-round pick (via Lakers), 2027 first-round pick (least favorable of Bucks-Pels) <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/4BLEuDodqT\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/4BLEuDodqT<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/wojespn\/status\/1806822140978639024?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 28, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>In return, the Hawks will receive <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/n\/nancela02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Larry Nance Jr.<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/daniedy01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dyson Daniels<\/a>, a 2025 first-round pick, and a 2027 first-round pick. The 2025 first-round pick will come by way of the Los Angeles Lakers, so their level of success this season will determine where the pick falls. The 2027 first-round pick will be the least favorable of the Pelicans and Milwaukee Bucks\u2019.<\/p>\n<h2>Pelicans, Hawks Execute Highly Anticipated Offseason Trade<\/h2>\n<p>Many anticipated that the Hawks would <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/04\/21\/hawks-nba-insider-surprising-claim-trade-plans\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">trade one of<\/a> either Murray or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/y\/youngtr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Trae Young<\/a> this offseason.<\/p>\n<p>Though both are highly talented, they weren\u2019t a natural fit because they\u2019re two lead guards. That being said, with Young being Atlanta\u2019s primary playmaker, Murray had to play off-ball more. This undermined his strengths, as he\u2019s at his best when attacking off-the-dribble. \u00a0However, despite Murray\u2019s status as second-in-command, the Hawks played better when Young was out last season. Atlanta went <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statmuse.com\/nba\/ask?q=hawks+record+without+trae+young+in+2023-24\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">14-14 without him in 2023-24<\/a> and 12-11 in the games he missed with a finger injury.<\/p>\n<p>Factoring in Murray\u2019s leadership, the constant drama surrounding Young, and the latter\u2019s defensive concerns, there was question about who the Hawks should keep. Indeed, many teams were said to prefer trading for Murray rather than Young. If it seems strange that a three-time All-Star has less value than a one-time All-Star, it is. Nonetheless, those reports underscore the complexity of Atlanta\u2019s situation.<\/p>\n<p>With that being said, it was thought that when the Hawks made a trade with the Pelicans, they would want <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/i\/ingrabr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brandon Ingram<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>No Brandon Ingram?<\/h3>\n<p>On the one hand, for New Orleans to get Murray without giving up Ingram is impressive. Throughout last season, the Pelicans were on the market for a starting point guard. Though it wasn\u2019t their only issue, not having an initiator and distributor stifled the offense. Despite three stars with an offensive bent, New Orleans ranked 23rd in field goal attempts (87.4); they weren\u2019t getting the shots up to maximize their talent.<\/p>\n<p>Now with a point guard who can score, distribute, and slow down opposing ball-handlers, they\u2019re another step closer to the first championship of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/willizi01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Zion Williamson<\/a> era.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, the Pelicans could still <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/04\/28\/4-brandon-ingram-trade-destinations\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">trade the long-limbed forward<\/a>. However, with a point guard to make sure he gets touches, their primary motivation to move him would be financial. As he\u2019s under contract through 2024-25, the most logical route would be to let the season play out. Whether the Pelicans underachieve or make a deep playoff run, they\u2019ll have a better idea of it\u2019s worth bringing him back.<\/p>\n<p>From the Hawks\u2019 side, this is a gamble.<\/p>\n<h4>Rebuilding or Remodeling?<\/h4>\n<p>As previously mentioned, Atlanta <em>did<\/em> play better without Young last season. This is primarily due to Atlanta tightening up their defense when he was out of the lineup. So if the Hawks were going to trade Young, the thought is that they would at least bring in another All-Star-caliber player. Ingram often finds defense optional, but he\u2019s one of the best scorers in the league.<\/p>\n<p>If the Lakers lose <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jamesle01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LeBron James<\/a> this offseason, which seems increasingly unlikely, the 2025 first-round pick is extremely valuable. It may even be used to add a star, with teams anticipating a rough season for the Lakers. Yet, if James returns, the Hawks would\u2019ve traded one of their best players for two late first-rounders, a backup big man, and another point guard.<\/p>\n<p>Not only is this poor value, it looks like a team more interested in rebuilding than remodeling. If it\u2019s the former, then Young may press for a trade. If Young requests to be moved, Atlanta will become Pandora\u2019s box.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Atlanta Hawks have traded Dejounte Murray to the New Orleans Pelicans, per ESPN\u2019s Adrian Wojnarowski. Full trade on ESPN: Dejounte Murray for Larry Nance Jr., Dyson Daniels, 2025 first-round pick (via Lakers), 2027 first-round pick (least favorable of Bucks-Pels) https:\/\/t.co\/4BLEuDodqT \u2014 Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 28, 2024 In return, the Hawks will receive Larry [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":83555,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,4,1608,26,33,3,4721],"tags":[308,1262,4605,526,38,98,4774,1382,1349],"class_list":["post-83548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-hawks","category-basketball","category-lakers","category-pelicans","category-news","category-trade-rumors","tag-brandon-ingram","tag-dejounte-murray","tag-dyson-daniels","tag-larry-nance-jr","tag-lebron-james","tag-nba-draft","tag-rumors","tag-nba-trade","tag-trae-young"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83548\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}