The Warriors remain locked in a contract standoff with restricted free agent Jonathan Kuminga, but that hasn’t kept them from poking around the league for upgrades on the trade market. One name that has come up in their search, writes Jake Fischer for The Stein Line, is Pelicans‘ wing Trey Murphy III.
Fischer says that the Warriors approached the Pelicans about Murphy this summer. Still, he notes that New Orleans has turned away offers for the recently-turned 25-year-old, who is coming off a breakout year that saw him score 21.2 points per night after averaging 14.6 points over the previous two years.
Murphy is on a valuable contract as a 6’8″ wing who can shoot (career 38.3% from three), defend at a solid level, and has shown flashes of self-creation. The Warriors have placed a premium on shooting, as illustrated by Fischer’s report that they have refused to consider sign-and-trade offers that would force them to part with either Moses Moody or Buddy Hield, two of the team’s top marksmen outside of Stephen Curry.
Fischer adds another name to the suitors for Murphy: the Spurs. Fischer says that San Antonio has registered trade interest in the athletic wing, though he doesn’t elaborate on that statement.
Murphy would be a clean fit with the Spurs, who could use a big wing shooter to complement their highly talented but shooting-deprived guard trio of De’Aaron Fox, Dylan Harper, and Stephon Castle, as well as versatile forward Jeremy Sochan.
However, all the reasons teams such as the Spurs and Warriors are interested in Murphy’s services are also reasons the Pelicans would be reluctant to part with him. That’s especially true given the uncertainty surrounding Zion Williamson, both in terms of long-term health and legal status. Murphy, the recently extended Herb Jones, and Jose Alvarado have been on the team longer than anyone outside of Williamson, and Murphy’s game has grown tremendously in that time.
They would be so stupid to trade him. So it’s entirely possible lol
If a team is willing to overpay to get Murphy it wouldn’t be stupid. The Spurs could do that since they have a lot of attractive assets in terms of young players and future draft picks. The Warriors have nothing that would be worth trading Murphy to get.
Have you seen the moves Dumars has made? The chances they don’t get completely owned in such a move is really low.
He seems to think they will be competitive in the West this year. Which is wild to me.
Whether Dumars would be capable of making a good deal is a different question than whether trading Murphy would be stupid.
Breaking news there are teams that want Trey Murphy. Thanks for the in-depth reporting. /s
I love how everyone has judged Dumars before those trades are even proven to be good or bad.
They are considering a extension of his later pistons years where he near maxed out guys like Ben Gordon, Charlie Villanueva and Josh smith among other things
Yawn…. old news Fischer just want attention. Warriors has wanted Murphy for a long time and they asked about him months ago. He is not on the trading block and Pelicans are not trading him according to reports.
I doubt Murphy is going anywhere. Not including guys like Buddy and Moody for Murphy is laughable. I call fake news.
first its old news the warriors been after Murphy for a while. Second the guy who is psuhing the rumor pushes every rumor. He also claiming the warriors are after LeBron too. He throws everything at the wall hoping something sticks. Warriors came out and said they are not trading Moody or Heild.
OK, so fake news. Got it.
Fischer is famous for click bait
I am sure they are also interested in Victor Wembanyama and Shai
Murphy, Queen, Missi is actually a good big front line. Made for today’s game. Move Zion and you can build around this. Murphy just signed an extension. He isn’t going anywhere. Specifically with Zion inability to play.
Brandon Clarke and a future #1 …..
Kuminga to Grizzlies. He can start at the 3 there. Done