Spurs Trade Dejounte Murray to Hawks

Per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the San Antonio Spurs will trade their breakout star point guard to the Atlanta Hawks for Danilo Gallinari, 3 future first round picks, and a future pick swap.

I really like what the Spurs have done here, even if it gets Pop retired. The team is in clear rebuild mode but they join a growing list of teams that on the surface appear ready to tank in preparation of wonder prospect Victor Wembanyama, who is draft eligible in 2023. This squad moving forward will be led by Keldon Johnson and Jakob Poeltl. Anecdotally, this makes me question the future of Poeltl in San Antonio. There are plenty of teams looking for his type of skillset this offseason and the Spurs may not be afraid to make the rebuild obvious. After three first round picks in this years draft (Malaki Branham mention), this team is setup for future success if they can execute via draft.

As much as I like the vision of San Antonio, I like this trade ten fold for Atlanta. The type of on and of ball defense that Dejounte Murray will provide is something this team desperately lacks. With the gravity that Trae Young demands, this opens up more opportunities for a second aggressive scorer who can really attack contact in the paint. His ability to pass and coordinate an offense will also lend to less demand on Trae Young on both sides of the ball. Trae is still the better playmaker and should be the primary ball handler but the attention he has gotten this past year has made it tough for this team to adjust due to personnel. This move really makes Atlanta a threat in the East, and not in the same way as 2021.