Want to know if anyone actually wants Dejounte Murray? One team, Phoenix, has been linked to him. They want a parking spot for a contract.
Chris Haynes reported it plainly: "The Phoenix Suns have registered interest in New Orleans Pelicans guard Dejounte Murray who has let it be known that he seeks a change of scenery." Sounds like a market. Look at the mechanics. The Athletic's Sam Amick reported rival clubs think the Suns are "motivated" to move shooting guard Jalen Green for a point guard. Green is making $36.3 million this season; Murray is making $32.8 million. A one-for-one works straight up. That's the whole reason his name is in the conversation: his number lines up with a trade Phoenix already wanted to make.
Phoenix wants out from under Jalen Green's contract, and Murray is the vehicle that gets them there.
Murray did this to himself
Shams Charania reported the trade request, and that Rich Paul and the team have "started working on a resolution for the one-time All-Star." A resolution. That's the word you use when nobody's phone is ringing.
And the reason nobody's phone is ringing is Murray. Late Wednesday night, after a 145-111 home loss to Brooklyn, he accused his own franchise of "sabotage" in posts he later deleted. The spark was an account pointing out the Pelicans were 3-0 without him and 1-8 with him. The next day he fired back at the "social media coach," writing: "Ohhhhh let's talk about it... Let's hear it Mr social media coach, Gm and President? You have no f---ing clue what we dealing with."
You can't do that and expect 29 other front offices to see a bargain. One analyst put the value destruction exactly right: "Murray is coming off an Achilles tendon injury, which was always going to make him a tough sell. But his early season barbs at the organization and coaches will torpedo his value." He took a hard sell and detonated it.
The injury history alone was already scaring teams off. Murray ruptured his right Achilles during a loss to Boston in January 2025, a season-ender. Before that he fractured his left hand in his Pelicans debut. Through nine games this season he's averaging 13.4 points and 4.4 assists on about 43 percent shooting. He's a player you absorb if the money works, nothing more.
The talent defense doesn't save him
There's a real case buried in here: Murray was genuinely good on bad Spurs teams, and his lone All-Star nod from 2021-22 in San Antonio proves the talent was real. That's exactly why someone might take a flyer on him. But being the best player on a losing team doesn't answer the question of whether a functional team wants him. In Atlanta, the pairing with Trae Young flopped, and there's lingering animosity between Hawks fans and Murray over his social media rants aimed at that fan base. Now the sniping has shown up at a second stop. A team talking itself into Murray's upside has to talk itself past a man who, when things go wrong, points the gun at his own building in public.
His record in New Orleans didn't force this, and neither did his Achilles. Murray typed his way from a veteran who wants out to a contract the Pelicans would love to be rid of.
He's doubtful for Friday against Memphis with an ankle sprain, which only buys New Orleans time it doesn't want. The market he's imagining, the one where contenders line up, isn't out there. The only door open is a salary-matched swap for a guard another team is trying to offload. Murray wanted leverage. He spent it all on his own keyboard.
