Dejounte Murray is a young All-Star at the heart of San Antonio’s ongoing rebuild.
The Spurs are also listening to trade offers for Murray, specifically talking to Atlanta about a John Collins-based deal, but San Antonio’s asking price is very high, reports Jake Fischer at Bleacher Report. Other reporters have confirmed the talks but added that, as of now, the deal is not close.The Spurs are fielding offers for Murray and have told multiple interested teams it would take a “Jrue Holiday-like package” for San Antonio to part with the 25-year-old floor general, setting a rough benchmark of three first-round picks for any suitor to pry Murray free.
San Antonio’s most significant discussions regarding Murray have seemed to occur with the Atlanta Hawks, in a framework that would send Collins back to the Spurs, league sources told B/R. San Antonio and Atlanta have kicked around that deal concept at least dating back to the February trade deadline.
As @JakeLFischer reported, the Hawks have discussed a trade involving John Collins and Spurs guard Dejounte Murray but I’m told it’s not close to happening yet.
— Chris Kirschner (@ChrisKirschner) June 23, 2022
Not saying it won’t happen, just not close this second.
Interestingly, Murray had Tweeted this out earlier in the day, before the Collins rumor broke.
👀👀👀👀
— Dejounte Murray (@DejounteMurray) June 21, 2022
Then after the news was public, added this.
Uh Ohhhhhhhhh 🍿 https://t.co/1NeNKS9oYG
— Dejounte Murray (@DejounteMurray) June 23, 2022
It’s easy to see Atlanta’s motivation here, they seek both secondary shot creation and better perimeter defense to go with Trae Young and Murray checks both boxes. Murray was second in Most Improved Player voting last season, and averaged 21.1 points, 9.2 assists, 8.3 rebounds and a league-best two steals a game.
That the Spurs are listening to offers at all and not hanging up the phone the second another GM calls is telling. Murray is an All-Star currently on a four-year, $64 million extension of his rookie contract, but as Fischer notes that is up in 2024 and Murray would expect a max in his next deal. The Spurs may not want to pay that. Collins has four years, $102 million remaining on his contract (the final season of that is a player option).
Look for the Hawks to be one of the most active teams on the trade market in the coming days and weeks as they take an aggressive stance to rebuild their roster around Young.
The Spurs will continue their patient rebuild and can do that with or without Murray.
