Alright, ladies and gentlemen, we may be bracing for the season’s first “big” trade (and I use that term loosely, depending on how you view the player in question). ESPN senior NBA insider Shams Charania reported on X earlier today that Pelicans guard Dejounte Murray wants out of New Orleans, and that his agent, Rich Paul, and team officials are working toward a resolution.
A couple of possible suitors are popping up in the rumor mill, with the Phoenix Suns leading the bunch as speculation continues to heat up. That being said, I couldn’t help wondering what a Raptors–Dejounte Murray fit might look like if Toronto zeroed in on a trade.
Dejounte Murray could upgrade Toronto's point guard spot ... but is he the right target?
Murray is a point guard, and that position has been a major question mark in Toronto’s lineup. Immanuel Quickley’s play has been inconsistent, while Jamal Shead has provided serviceable minutes as a backup and occasional starter — though his lapses on offense remain concerning.
Now, if you’d brought up Dejounte Murray joining the Raptors several years ago, I think I would’ve been all over it. Once upon a time, Murray stood out as one of the league’s underrated point guards, with well-rounded skills, a relentless motor, and pestering defense. He earned his lone All-Star nod as a member of the Spurs in 2021-22, averaging an impressive 21.1 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 9.2 assists, along with a whopping 2.0 steals per game.
It was this breakout year that tantalized the Hawks enough to go all-in on a blockbuster move for him. Atlanta puzzlingly experimented with a Trae Young–Dejounte Murray backcourt, but the pairing never became anything special, and the Hawks eventually flipped him to the Pelicans — where he’s now trying to get out.
Selling a Raptors enthusiast like myself on the peak, prime version of Dejounte Murray could certainly get some people to entertain the idea of parting ways with Immanuel Quickley or RJ Barrett (who still remains a key point of long-term concerns). Both could work in a hypothetical deal, though I’d reckon it would be IQ, not RJ, on the move.
But you have to remember: Murray suffered a torn Achilles in January 2025, adding another concern to a player whose game has already shown signs of decline. In his present form, I don’t think you can look at Murray and see the same game-changing defensive impact he once offered — because he hasn’t looked that way in a while and his effort has been called into question (even though I get playing in NOLA might do that to you).
Perhaps more importantly, there’s the glaring weakness of his shaky career three-point shooting.
Murray is a 33.9 percent shooter from three across nine seasons. His best combination of volume and efficiency came in Atlanta, where he shot 36.3 percent in the 2023-24 season. I wouldn’t put much weight on his 39.1 percent as a rookie in San Antonio, given the limited volume and sample size.
That number isn’t completely damning. But for a Raptors team already searching for reliable answers from beyond the arc, adding a relative non-shooter like Murray raises a fair question: would his overall game make up for that weakness?
So far this season, his numbers don’t offer a clear answer. Across nine games with the Pelicans, Murray is averaging 13.4 points on 43.1 percent shooting, including 29.6 percent from three, along with 4.6 rebounds, 4.4 assists, and 1.6 steals. Those aren’t terrible numbers per se, do they show enough of a drastic enough upgrade to convince you he’s the answer to Toronto’s point guard dilemma?
No offense to Murray, but he’s no Kyrie Irving or Jrue Holiday — two dream point guard targets that I’ve had my eye on before.
Sure, you could argue Murray is a better true point guard than Quickley. And while IQ has had his fair share of lackluster play lately, I’d still take his streaky ability to shoot the lights out over the element Murray might bring to the guard spot.
To me, a Murray swing would be another Hail Mary: the Raptors moving in on someone who looks like a franchise prototypical darling, only for his arrival to potentially exacerbate the problems they already have.
There’s another wrinkle, too. In case you forgot, it was just last season when Murray essentially became public enemy number one in Raptors Nation after a heated confrontation with Jamal Shead and Immanuel Quickley. So, there’s that drama on top of everything he’s already dealing with in New Orleans. Would the Raptors really want to sign up voluntarily for that?
I’d argue Toronto would continue have an uphill battle to climb if they went after Murray, even with a potential X-factor connection to Kawhi Leonard from their days in San Antonio. In a perfect world, the idea of this trade might look like a must-do. But in his present form, I believe Murray would create or only highlight more problems for this struggling squad — leaving the Raptors with yet another player they have to wait on to become great.
This team needs sure-fire answers, not another feeling-out process.
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