Dejounte Murray has quietly become one of the best two-way guards in the league this season, making a strong case for the MIP Award in the process.
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When the Spurs picked Dejounte Murray late in the first round in 2016, they believed in his tremendous upside and potential on both ends on the floor. In fact, Murray was showing glimpses of the same, before suffering an ACL injury which kept him out the entire 2018-19 season.
Here’s the clip of Dejounte Murray’s non contact knee injury that resulted in a torn ACL. You can see it collapse inwards as he puts a ton of force on it in an effort to explode into his jump. pic.twitter.com/R8o2Lqq6zQ
— BBALLBREAKDOWN (@bballbreakdown) October 8, 2018
As a result, the Spurs were cautious in 2019-20, as Murray averaged just over 25 minutes per contest. However, the patience paid off as he is currently having the best year of his career. While it has taken a few seasons, the 25-year-old is developing into one of the best two-way guards right before our eyes.
Despite the impressive displays, in typical Spurs fashion, he has completely gone under the radar, especially when it comes to All-Star votes this year.
Golden State’s Stephen Curry, Brooklyn’s Kevin Durant, Lakers‘ LeBron James and Bulls‘ DeMar DeRozan continue to lead in the NBA’s second All-Star Game fan voting returns: pic.twitter.com/Ml9CPPdvLi
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 13, 2022
Dejounte Murray got his 8th triple-double of the season in the Spurs’ win tonight! 😲
All-Star? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/iVI3yVzmN9
— theScore (@theScore) January 20, 2022
Dejounte Murray deserves to be an All-Star this season.
The San Antonio Spurs are no longer the powerhouse it once was. Head coach Gregg Popovich looks all to set to call it quits, quite possibly marking the beginning of a new era in San Antonio, and right at the forefront of that is their young star in Dejounte Murray.
The 25-year-old has been exceptional this season, averaging a career-high 19.1 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 8.8 assists per game. This is a huge jump from last year, where he averaged 15.7 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 5.4 assists a night. As a result, it puts Murray firmly in contention to win the MIP Award this season.
This guy is a problem. Beach, we got an all star. And the dribble 👀. If you know, you know. @DejounteMurray is special 🙌🏾💯 https://t.co/ubv09f6fNm
— 🏁 Jamal Crawford (@JCrossover) January 20, 2022
In addition, Murray has 1.4 steals a game, and is making a strong case to make an All-defensive team, as he did way back in 2018.
Dejounte Murray’s numbers this season are definitely All-Star worthy, and if he was playing in a bigger market team, you could almost say he would have been an All-Star lock. All that being said, Spurs will be happy with his development as he looks all set to be their cornerstone for the foreseeable future.
