One of the first big moves of the NBA offseason was the Atlanta Hawks breaking up their backcourt of Trae Young and Dejounte Murray. The Hawks sent Murray to the New Orleans Pelicans for Dyson Daniels, Larry Nance, E.J. Liddell, Cody Zeller, and two first round picks. It was a move that many felt the Hawks had to make and they did well to come out with a potential impact player like Daniels and two draft picks. Even though the Hawks did not get back the original price for what they paid for Murray, most around the league viewed it as a solid trade.
That is except one member of ESPN’s NBA panel. ESPN had a panel of “18 NBA coaches, scouts, and executives to get their opinions on the most impactful summer moves and what they mean for the 2024-25 season” and when asked to vote on the worst of the offseason, Atlanta trading away Murray was one of the moves that got a vote. The Murray trade also got a vote for the most surprising move.
I don’t agree with either. The Hawks were going to trade one or both of either Young or Murray and it made no sense to trade Young because he was the better player. The pairing did not work and one of the players needed to be moved.
This was far from the worst move of the offseason. While the Hawks did not get a grand slam return for Murray, they got a potential impact player in Daniels (who looks great in the Olympics) and two draft picks in years where they might not have had a pick. The 2025 pick from the Lakers is unprotected and while I don’t think the Lakers will end up being the worst team in the NBA, they could miss the playoffs because of how loaded the Western Conference is. Daniels is one of the best defenders in the league and the Lakers pick guarantees the Hawks will be picking in what is seen as a loaded draft.
When given a grade for their offseason by ESPN last week, the Hawks did not receive a high grade. ESPN NBA analyst Kevin Pelton gave the Hawks a C+ for their offseason:
“Breaking up the Dejounte Murray-Trae Young pairing was the right call, but the final Murray deal wasn’t as constructive as initially thought. To avoid triggering a first-apron hard cap for the New Orleans Pelicans, Atlanta completed the deal July 6 and took back Cody Zeller via sign-and-trade. That prevented the Hawks from making injured forward Saddiq Bey a restricted free agent. Atlanta got nothing in return when Bey signed with the Washington Wizards.
If the Hawks are right that No. 1 pick Zaccharie Risacher was the best player in a draft without a consensus top choice, their offseason will look far better. It’s too early to say after an uneven NBA summer league debut for Risacher.”
Atlanta has not had the best offseason of any team in the NBA, but I also think they have added good pieces to their roster that should help fix some of their biggest weaknesses they had last year.
