The Hawks have a pivotal offseason ahead, and it’s sure to involve at least one major trade. Most expect Atlanta to deal one of Trae Young or Dejounte Murray.
Armed with the No. 1 overall pick, Landry Fields should have enough at his disposal to retool the roster around one of their All-Star point guards. The Hawks could decide to go with a full-fledged rebuild by moving both and collecting as much draft capital and young pieces as possible.
One interesting prospect was floated by an anonymous NBA executive. A trade that would send Dejounte Murray to the Warriors as a de facto Stephen Curry replacement.
“Of all the guys they might be able to trade for, he is probably realistic because he does not make a ton of money and they could add him, put him in Chris Paul’s spot, give up two first-round picks and now you’ve gotten some defense in there, you’ve got another scorer in there, you have a guy who make some sense,” one Western Conference exec said, via Sean Deveney of Heavy.com.
The Warriors require a wing rather than a point guard, but Murray is a larger guard who can cover many positions on defence. He’s coming off a season in which he scored a career-high 22.5 points per game while shooting 45.9% from the field and 36.3% from three. “No one will replace Steph,” the executive stated. “But that team needs to look at everyone they would consider acquiring and ask, ‘Stephen Curry replacement?’ ‘Stephen Curry replacement?’ If you can sign Murray, you’ll have a point guard for the next five or ten years, assuming you want him. That’s a start towards replacing him.”
The only issue with the Hawks hitting the reset button and going toward a total rebuild is the Spurs own some of their first-round picks, but the prospect of a Dejounte Murray trade with the Warriors is interesting depending on the return.