Revisiting 5 recent terrible trades ahead of the deadline
By Cal Durrett
The Dejounte Murray trade
Despite rumblings that Dejounte Murray was on the trading block last summer, I didn’t believe that he would actually be traded until it happened. After all, the Spurs trading their young All-Star essentially for draft picks seemed like a terrible idea.
Ironically, this trade is actually already looking like a bad deal for the Hawks. The Hawks gave up three firsts and a pick swap for Murray, who has played well for them this season. Still, the Hawks are only a .500 team with Murray and Trae Young as their best players.
Worse yet, there have been reports that Young has alienated teammates and beefed with his coach, possibly leading to his requesting a trade. Even if that doesn’t happen, the Hawks haven’t gotten better with this swing-for-the-fences move, and the consequences of this trade could be brutal.
Murray could command at least $200 million in free agency in 2024, making re-signing him and retaining Young, who’s making $43 million per year on average over the next four seasons, almost impossible. If Young is traded before then, then Murray is probably all but gone considering Young recruited him to Atlanta. If Murray leaves in the summer of 2024, the Hawks will still be without their own first-round pick for the next three straight seasons with nothing to show for it.
That prevents them from tanking because the 2025 and 2027 draft picks they traded to the Spurs are unprotected. All this is to say that the trade looks like a bad one for the Hawks and a great one for the Spurs.