Trae Young and the future of Dejounte Murray among the 10 best storylines of the NBA offseason

The Atlanta Hawks will be the center of a lot of discussion this offseason. Although they would prefer to contend for an NBA title, the Hawks are going to have a chance to reshape their roster and that is helped by securing the first overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft Lottery. Questions Atlanta will have to answer over the next five weeks is what they will do with the No. 1 pick, but the bigger question will be what happens with the backcourt duo of Dejounte Murray and Trae Young.

NBA insider Shams Charania spoke about the future of Young and the Hawks on Fanuel TV’s Run it Back last week:

“For the No. 1 pick, their decision will be: do you go big with a guy like Alex Sarr or do you go more on the guard front, there are a few options there as well. The elephant in the play of Of course this will be the future of Trae Young and Dejounte Murray Trae Young has said publicly and privately that he wants to win and that he is going to enter the back half, closer to the 10th year of his career .he’s just started. It’s crazy, you think Trae Young is so young, but he’s at a stage where he wants to win.

You see players like Tyrese Haliburton, De’Aaron Fox, Luka Doncic, continually competing and making more and more names for themselves, winning more season games, and if Trae Young doesn’t see or feel like whether the Hawks are building a winner or a team that really has a chance in the Eastern Conference, you see teams like New York, you see teams like Indiana make it to the second round, all the way to the conference finals, Trae Young surely feels like the Hawks should be in this position.

They’re going to have real conversations if he believes that they’re not trying to build a real winner around him and that dialogue and those discussions will happen this week at the combine, next week and the weeks to come leading to the NBA. Draft. Clearly, this pairing between Trae Young and Dejounte Murray didn’t work out. They already considered moving Dejounte Murray and kept him until the trade deadline. Which goaltender do they end up going this route and I think that will be the big question for the Hawks heading into the draft. »

Here is the full clip:

Zach Buckley of Bleacher Report cited Murray/Young’s future as one of the headlines that will dominate the offseason:

“The Atlanta Hawks could be unrecognizable in a few months. Maybe sooner.

They haven’t necessarily committed to a top-to-bottom reset, but after two first-round exits with a lottery appearance, this entire core has essentially been moved to the trading block.

Clint Capela and De’Andre Hunter have long called it home, and the plug could be pulled on the backcourt duo of Trae Young and Dejounte Murray at any moment.

“The most likely scenario…continues to be that Atlanta trades one of its two star guards before next season,” NBA insider Marc Stein said in April.

Young and Murray don’t need more minutes together to know it’s not working. They recorded nearly 1,200 side-by-sides this season and lost them at a staggering rate of 6.5 points per 100 possessions.

This shouldn’t hurt their individual business values ​​too much, however. Young is a versatile playmaker who almost guarantees his team a top-10 offense. Murray only averaged more than 20 points and more than six assists twice while serving as second-in-command and had already earned first-team All-Defensive honors.

The Hawks would have to get a reward for either, and their trade partner would realistically think they just landed a difference-making piece. »

It seems likely that Atlanta will move one of its guards, but which one remains a mystery. I said I would keep Young and build around him, Jalen Johnson and the No. 1 pick, which I would use on Alex Sarr. The Hawks could then trade Murray, Clint Capela and possibly De’Andre Hunter for more assets to build around this core of players, as well as promising second-year players Kobe Bufkin and Mouhamed Gueye. Onyeka Okongwu’s future could also be in doubt if the Hawks take Sarr, but that will be something they will have to figure out if they take Sarr, which is not a certainty.

The Hawks have reportedly already acquired Capela.

NBA insider Mark Stein reported that the Atlanta Hawks center is “probably destined for the trade market” this offseason.

Capela has been great for the Hawks since they acquired him in February 2020 for next to nothing in a four-team deal involving the Hawks, Rockets, Nuggets and Timberwolves. He should have received more love as a Defensive Player of the Year candidate in the 2020-21 season and was Atlanta’s anchor on the defensive end, a spot where they struggled. He has been the perfect lob threat for Trae Young in the pick-and-roll and is underrated among many for his impact on the team.