NBA trade season is on! With the Bucks sure to be active on the market, Brew Hoop is here to do your homework on trade candidates for you. We’ve already covered Jerami Grant and Zach LaVine, with more eye-catching names ahead. Today, we’re discussing Pelicans guard Dejounte Murray!
The Player
Dejounte Murray, 29, 6’4”, 180 lb, guard
2024–25 season averages: 17.5 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 7.4 APG, 2.0 SPG, 0.4 BPG, .393/.299/.823
Murray is a former All-Star whose value is at an all-time low. He’s currently recovering from the second major injury of his career, an Achilles tear he suffered in January 2025 that has kept him sidelined for the entirety of the 2025–26 season so far. This is Murray’s second year with the New Orleans, the third team he’s been on in his career. He was originally sent to the Pelicans by the Hawks in the 2024 offseason.
When he’s been healthy, Murray has built a reputation as a dynamic two-way guard. His defense has been held in high regard nationally for a long time. He was named to an All-Defensive team as a sophomore with the Spurs in 2017–18, making him the youngest player to ever receive those honors until Victor Wembanyama stole that title.
It’s been his offensive growth, though, that has elevated him to star status. He’s a fantastic mid-range scorer who can finish at the rim and run the offense as a floor general. The Seattle native has worked hard on his three-ball too, going from a non-shooter to a respectable one in just a few years’ time. Murray’s best individual season was in 2021-22 with San Antonio, where he averaged 21.1 PPG, 8.3 RPG, and 9.2 APG while pacing the league in steals per game (2.0) and leading the young Spurs to a play-in appearance and his lone All-Star game. His best shooting campaign was in 2023–24 with Atlanta—he shot 36.3% from deep on 7.1 attempts per game, many of them off-the-dribble.
Why might Murray be available for trade? The Pelicans are in one of the weirdest spots in the NBA. Their roster features a clash of stars, quality role players, and young players who need to develop. The team wants to compete, but they haven’t been able to, which is unfortunate because they traded away their first-round pick this year (great call, Joe Dumars). In the midst of confusion, disappointment, and an overall vibes rollercoaster, rookies Jeremiah Fears and Derik Queen have emerged as beacons of hope for the franchise’s future, suggesting it’s finally time for a full rebuild.
If New Orleans makes their veterans available, Murray should be one of the first to go, given his presence would block Fears’ ascension, and he’s already kind of the odd man out, having only played 31 total games for the team and zero this season. Jake Fischer of The Stein Line named the Bucks as a potential interested party should Murray become up for grabs. This isn’t the first time Milwaukee has sniffed around these parts— they were also linked to Murray back in 2024.
The Trade
As mentioned, Murray’s value is as low as ever right now, given his age, injury, and contract. Milwaukee would be doing New Orleans a favor by taking him off their hands, really. That’s why the Bucks would be getting a couple of second-round picks for their trouble, replenishing their sparsely-stocked draft cabinet. The Pels would be doing this to get off Murray’s contract more than anything, but Kuzma, Harris, and Coffey are all complementary role players who wouldn’t take away from the development of Queen, Fears, and others at all. Karlo Matkovic is the sneaky fun part of this trade; the 2022 second-round pick has looked like a useful backup more often than not so far in his career, showing a lot of versatility on both sides of the ball. He’s better at the traditional center stuff than Bobby Portis, and significantly more skilled than Jericho Sims.
It’s worth noting that this framework would still work if the Bucks sent out Gary Trent Jr. instead of Harris, and doing so could be enough to net Milwaukee a first-round pick if they were willing to make that sacrifice. New Orleans would need to release a player after making this deal. DeAndre Jordan stands out as the obvious candidate, but he’s become a mentor for Derik Queen and other youngsters on the team, so a Kevon Looney buyout would also be plausible.
The Fit
Murray wouldn’t be a picture-perfect fit in Milwaukee. He’s not a true ball-dominant point guard, and he can play off the ball with a score-first mentality, but he still commands a higher usage either way. That’s where things get clunky, as Ryan Rollins and Kevin Porter Jr. are both priorities for the Bucks in the backcourt. Porter might benefit a lot from moving to the bench as a super sixth-man, but the odds of that happening are realistically low. The most likely scenario would be a Rollins demotion, but that would be unpopular, to say the least.
From a talent perspective, though, Murray would be a great get. He’s easily more suited to be the second option on a night-to-night basis for a competitive team than Porter and Rollins at this point in time. How well he would conform next to Giannis, though, is uncertain. He could form a formidable pick-and-roll duo with the Greek Freak, but we all know how much the big fella likes being the point guard out there. Murray’s off-ball play has gotten much better over time, but he’s still not a truly respected catch-and-shoot threat, and it’s not like he’s going to play primarily as a cutter or dunker spot guy.
Defensively, Murray’s prestige outweighs his actual impact. He excels at forcing turnovers and creating havoc, but he tends to gamble, and his on-ball ability has slipped as his offensive workload has increased. He wouldn’t be the next Jrue Holiday for this team, that’s for sure. He is an excellent rebounder for his size, though, which would be a welcome sight for a team that really struggles on the defensive glass at times.
Adopting Murray’s $30m+ AAV contract wouldn’t be ideal for the Bucks, especially if his injury causes a dropoff in his performance, but bringing in some sort of high-salary player will likely be necessary for this team to get better.
Would you take a chance on Murray? Who else do you think the Bucks should target? Drop your thoughts in the comments below!
