Dejounte Murray’s backcourt partnership with Trae Young ended prematurely. In a season and a half span, the duo was unable to lift the Hawks to a playoffs-level team and the defensive guard is now moving to New Orleans for a new phase. But, did Young play any role in Murray’s trade out of the Hawks? Former NBA athlete Eddie Johnson hinted at such a possibility.
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While reacting to Murray’s trade, Johnson sounded off. He believed that the Murray-Young backcourt could have been one of the best in the conference.
The 65-year-old recalled the reports about the two being friends before becoming Hawks teammates but as per Johnson, the current situation suggests otherwise. In fact, he, sort of, blamed Young for the premature end to the duo. On Sirius XM NBA Radio, Johnson stated,
“I am disappointed.. I said that could be the best backcourt in Eastern Conference when those two got together, and only reason I said it was because it was pretty much known that they were friends. Sure, when they got together, they turned out not to be such good friends anymore. Trae Young, maybe can do that to you.”
Reports say the Atlanta Hawks are trading Dejounte Murray to New Orleans Pelicans@TermineRadio & @JumpShot8 react to the breaking news pic.twitter.com/taEY4ufAoR
— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) June 30, 2024
Thus, for Johnson, Young was unable to build a cohesive partnership with Murray, leading to them breaking up. But is there any other reason? For the past two seasons, except for the move to bring in Murray, the Hawks management failed to put together a viable roster around their backcourt.
Recently, their long-term guard subtly let them know that he was unhappy with the team-building process. While they built a solid bench, the overall team combinations left a lot to be desired, especially in the way they managed the John Collins situation.
The Hawks, with Young and Murray, never attained the full potential and it can also be partially blamed on Young’s shooting woes. When his shooting percentages fell, Murray did improve his offensive repertoire but conceding the ball-handling duties to Young limited his influence.
Apart from that, Young also played some uninspiring defense on the perimeter which can be a death sentence in a league full of elite scoring guards. His efforts might have undermined Murray’s defensive work whose numbers also suffered because of the lack of support.
However, Trae Young can’t be blamed for the whole situation because his defensive limitations were already well-known. The management couldn’t address the roster needs to fill up such gaps which might be the reason they are looking to start afresh.
