Recently, Golden State Warriors star big man Draymond Green had some harsh words on the current state of the NBA. Green said that playing against forward LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers recently was “refreshing,” considering he thinks the modern game lacks substance and is “very boring.”
One NBA star who disagrees with Green’s comments is New Orleans Pelicans small forward Trey Murphy III.
“I don’t agree with that,” Murphy said of Green’s hot take. “I think the game’s fun. I still have fun watching basketball; I have fun playing basketball. The trade deadline made ratings go up a lot, so people are more intrigued and tuned in. The last two weeks before All-Star might be a little boring — everybody’s just trying to make All-Star — but the NBA being boring in general? I don’t know about that for sure.”
It’s easy to see why Murphy is more bullish on today’s brand of basketball than Green considering how well he’s played this season. He’s perhaps emerged as a bona fide star after he spent his first three seasons in the league as an effective complementary player.
Across 39 games played so far in the 2024-25 campaign, Murphy has done a little bit of everything for the Pelicans on both ends. He’s averaging 22.4 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.2 steals and 0.7 blocks per game. All of those numbers mark career-highs for the former first-round draft pick.
While Murphy is posting career numbers, folks should probably take his production with a grain of salt when factoring in how subpar a team the Pelicans have been since the campaign began. At 13-42, New Orleans holds the worst record of any team in the Western Conference and the second-worst in the league.
Additionally, if the season closed today, the current iteration of the Pelicans would have the second-worst winning percentage in franchise history.
The 2004-05 New Orleans Hornets are the worst squad in the team’s history as of now, as they ended the season with just 18 wins and a winning percentage of 22. New Orleans landed the No. 4 overall pick in the 2005 NBA Draft after that season and used that selection on none other than legendary point guard Chris Paul.
One of the few positive takeaways in what has been a lost season for the Pelicans has been the play of Murphy, and fans of the team should be excited to see how he’ll further develop in the coming years. If he continues to improve at his current trajectory, he could be one of the best players at his position in the league in due time.
