We have our first trade request of the 2026-27 NBA season. If you had Dejounte Murray on your bingo card, congratulations. The 2022 All-Star landed with the New Orleans Pelicans before the 2024-25 season, but his tenure there has been a mess. He played 31 games in his first season, shooting worse than he ever had before tearing his Achilles. He returned late last season and played well, but the beginning of this season has been a mess.
Murray has remained in the starting lineup for the Pelicans, but New Orleans is 1-8 in the games he's played. They've lost his minutes by over 14 points per 100 possessions, he's shot poorly from basically everywhere on the floor, and he hasn't been a consistently impactful defender since he played for the San Antonio Spurs.
Dejounte Murray NO • PG • #5 PPG13.4APG4.4SPG1.563P/G.889 View Profile Meanwhile, Murray has made his displeasure public on several occasions.
- In 2025, he criticized the organization on The Pivot Podcast. "I'm not getting what I need in the organization," he said. "It's hard for me to get my training time. It's hard for me to get lifts. It's hard for me to get my own court time. So, you can only imagine where my mental was at."
- In a since-deleted tweet replying to clips posted by Pro Pels Talk, Murray said that fans have "no f--- ing clue what we are dealing with."
- Murray himself retweeted Shams Charania's tweet about his trade request, which would seemingly open him up to a fine for publicly requesting a trade.
At this stage, Murray's trade value is likely minimal. If a deal comes, it will likely involve a similarly bloated, multi-year contract attached to a player that a team is eager to move. Essentially, we're looking for "problem for problem" type of trades.
Three destinations make some degree of immediate sense.
Phoenix Suns
The Suns are the first team to register known interest, according to Chris Haynes. Earlier this season, Haynes reported that the team's lack of a point guard had created frustration in the locker room. Phoenix started the season 1-5, but has since won four of its last five to somewhat right the ship.
Still, the Jalen Green experience has been a borderline disaster for Phoenix. The Suns have a staggering -15.7 net rating when Green plays and a +10.2 net rating when he sits. The former No. 2 overall pick was one of the primary pieces returned in the Kevin Durant trade, but his shooting has fallen off a cliff. He provides none of the playmaking that Devin Booker needs in a backcourt mate (which is part of why the Suns have fared so much better with Collin Gillespie on the floor in his place), and his defense is mostly nonexistent.
Both Murray and Green have player options for next season, with Green set to make $36 million and $30 million owed to Murray. The notoriously stingy Pelicans might insist on some form of compensation for taking on that extra money, but the premise here would essentially be the "problem for problem" structure we suggested above. With Murray gone, Jeremiah Fears could be the unquestioned starting point guard for the Pelicans. Green would either come off the bench or slot next to him at shooting guard, while Murray would be closer to the point guard archetype that Booker prefers.
It's by no means a perfect fit. Murray's weakness as a 3-point shooter would be problematic as the Suns have lost quite a bit of shooting since last season, and the Pelicans frankly have too many talented, shoot-first players as is. But it's at least an attempt at addressing real issues for both sides. The rebuilding Pelicans might at least like to take a look at a supremely gifted athlete, while the Suns would hope to get the point guard they feel they've lacked.
Miami Heat
Andrew Wiggins has really struggled to fit into the new, Giannis Antetokounmpo-centric version of the Heat. The former No. 1 overall pick is averaging less than nine points per game on some of the worst shooting numbers of his career. His usually steady defense has slipped a fair bit on a unit that has been enormously disappointing as a whole, and, offensively, Miami's lack of a genuine shot-creating guard has proven problematic early in the season.
The Heat need a more reliable shot-generator than Murray, but after spending most of their assets on Antetokounmpo, their options are somewhat limited. This sort of swap would essentially be a bet that going from one of the NBA's worst organizations to one of its best could rejuvenate a former All-Star. Fitting a point guard that shoots poorly from deep on a Giannis team would be pretty problematic, but Miami would presumably stagger the two of them to limit their minutes together.
Such a swap would appeal to New Orleans for a few reasons. The first is contractual. Wiggins signed an unusual contract last offseason. He had a player option for the 2026-27 season, but rather than decline it and sign an entirely new deal, he picked it up and added a cheap two-year extension on the back end. He is making over $30 million this season but will dip to $16.3 million next season. That makes him an ideal trade target for a team that wants to save money. He can match salary with Murray in a trade now, but cost far less next year.
And then of course, there's the chance that Wiggins bounces back on a team that plays a bit more traditionally than Antetokounmpo-led teams can. Pelicans wings Trey Murphy III and Herbert Jones have been rumor mill fixtures for years, and with Saddiq Bey in place and a potentially rejuvenated Wiggins incoming, New Orleans would potentially feel a bit more comfortable cashing one of those other forwards out for draft picks since they'd have replacements in the building.
Charlotte Hornets
Murray is emphatically not the sort of player that the Hornets tend to target, especially at point guard. Charlotte wants to bomb 3-pointers. That is not now, nor has it ever been Murray's game. When Charlotte traded LaMelo Ball, it expected to be able to sustain a somewhat respectable offense with Coby White in his place and Kon Knueppel ascending. Well, Ball is starring in Minnesota and White and Knueppel have barely played.
The Hornets knew they were taking a step back this season with the Ball trade. They probably didn't expect the NBA's worst offensive rating, highest turnover rate and lowest true shooting percentage. Bringing in Murray could at least provide them with a stabilizing force at point guard, someone who could raise the floor enough to properly evaluate everyone else on the team moving forward.
The Hornets have a $40.8 million trade exception generated from moving Ball and almost $30 million in room below the tax line. They could nearly absorb Murray outright without sending out another contract, and they've shown a willingness to take on salary in exchange for draft capital. That would be the idea here.
The Hornets are not taking on Murray's player option for next season lightly. The Pelicans would have to make it worth their while with some form of first-round draft compensation. The Pelicans are probably hesitant to do so after all of the criticism they (justifiably) received for the Derik Queen trade, but Charlotte is probably the only team that can offer real financial relief for Murray at this point. If that's a priority, there might be a conversation here. If the Pelicans expect the Hornets to treat Murray as a real asset, the Hornets almost certainly pass.
