The New York Knicks are allegedly among several teams interested in trading for Atlanta Hawks star guard Dejounte Murray.
“The Knicks are among several teams who’ve expressed exploratory trade interest in Hawks guard Dejounte Murray, league sources told HoopsHype,” Michael Scotto wrote.
“Murray can’t be traded until Jan. 9 after agreeing to a four-year, $120 million contract extension with the Hawks in July. However, given Atlanta’s sluggish start to the season as a fringe Play-In team following Jalen Johnson’s injury, nothing can be considered off the table for the Hawks in addition to usual trade suspects De’Andre Hunter and Clint Capela.”
Murray is in his seventh season in the NBA and second with the Hawks franchise. He is averaging 20.0 points, 4.3 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game while shooting 45.2 percent from the field, 37.4 percent from behind the 3-point line and 84.8 percent from the free-throw line across 27 appearances with Atlanta during the 2023-24 regular season.
For as impressive as Murray’s numbers have been on the offensive end of the floor for the Hawks this season, he has contributed on the other end of the floor too, as evidenced by the fact that he’s averaging 1.5 steals and 0.4 blocks per game.
The Hawks and Murray are fresh off a road victory over the Houston Rockets on Dec. 20. In 35 minutes of playing time, Murray chipped in 21 points, three rebounds and five assists while shooting 7-of-15 from the field and 3-of-8 from 3-point range.
Point guard Trae Young led the Hawks in scoring with 30 points.
Atlanta’s seven-point victory over the Rockets marked its second straight win, but at 12-15, the team still owns just the 10th-best record in the Eastern Conference right now and is two games back of the Indiana Pacers for the No. 8 seed in the conference.
The Hawks were pretty mediocre a season ago. The team won 41 games during the regular season and lost to the Boston Celtics in six games in the first round of the playoffs. Fast forward to present day, and the Hawks project to be mediocre once again, as they are on track to win even fewer games than they did last season.
If the Hawks continue to hover around the .500 mark in the months leading up to the Feb. 8 trade deadline and decide to trade Murray, the Knicks could make sense as a landing spot for the 27-year-old guard.
A backcourt of Jalen Brunson and Murray would make for one of the better guard tandems in the NBA, at least on paper.
