The Domino Effect: How Dejounte Murray Can Lead to the Pelicans Future Center

Opportunity is not a lengthy visitor

It’s no secret the Pelicans want to upgrade their center position. They have been trying for months, and the market is getting worse. There is no good pathway to the defensive big man the organization seeks, and they risk entering the summer with Jonas Valanciunas as an unrestricted free agent. They not only risk losing Valanciunas for nothing, but lose a potential valuable opportunity to utilize his salary in a trade. The lack of impactful center options and the ever ticking clock on the star duo of Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram should force the Pelicans to think unconventionally. Enter Dejounte Murray.

Yes, Murray is a guard. Yes, the Pelicans need a center. But hear me out. Acquiring Murray at a potentially low cost could be the first domino in a strategic cascade, one that ultimately lands them the versatile center they crave.

The premise of this article relies on two assumptions:

• Dejounte Murray will be relatively easy to acquire.

• The Pelicans are reaching the natural end of the Williamson and Ingram pairing.

The Price

To put it concisely, the Murray market is cool. Sure, he has a lot of interested teams - but very few who are willing to give up anything of consequence. The Lakers are unwilling to cough up Austin Reaves or multiple picks. The Bucks, who traded their whole future for Damian Lillard, are reportedly trying to get into the mix per Chris Haynes. This really perked my ears. If the price is that low, how could the Pelicans make it work? That’s when it hit me exactly how easy it would be for the Pelicans to pull this off.

Dejounte Murray earns a base salary of $17.7M and has another $1.5 million in likely and unlikely incentives. The Pelicans can easily match this salary number with JV’s contract on it’s own. Including someone like Dyson only gets the Pelicans further under the tax. Those two pieces combined with a protected pick or two is likely a better offer than what the Lakers or Bucks can offer at the moment. Valanciunas can always be routed to a third team that may provide some additional value to the Hawks. For example, can they route JV to OKC and land the Hawks Josh Giddey? How about Golden State and Moody? The trade flexibility is there.

The Center

The Pelicans clearly want a center. This much has been reported for months. Specifically - they want a defensive center. For weeks, I’ve been trying to figure out their pathway to one of three targets I anticipate they would be interested in - Jarrett Allen, Wendell Carter Jr. and Onyeka Okongwu. For weeks I have come up short or simply disinterested. Allen and the Cavs have played their way out of any reasonable trade talks. WCJ doesn’t seem like enough of an upgrade for what the cost will be - ditto for Onyeka. There are no good answers at the center position today that don’t involve moving a core piece.

Acquiring Dejounte Murray allows the Pelicans to do exactly that. Murray, to me, is a poor fit on the surface with the Zion, Ingram, McCollum trio. Murray has taken many strides as an off-ball player next to Trae Young, and is even canning threes at a career high 38.8% clip on volume. Next to the Pelicans established trio, he’d see even fewer touches. Financially, this core 4 would not make sense long term either. Murray, while on a very reasonable extension, would catapult the Pelicans into the tax the next year if they were not careful. Something would have to shake. To me, that something is Brandon Ingram.

Classic Shamit, using Dejounte Murray as an excuse to trade Brandon Ingram. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what I am trying to do. On the surface, they are not dissimilar as players. Both are averaging nearly an identical 21-5-5 statline. Both like to play with the ball in their hands, and are midrange lovers at heart. Ingram has been the more efficient of the two, despite being far less productive from three. This is in large part due to Murray having a career low finishing year, and his relative inability to get to the free throw line. Despite this, Murray has knocked down 108 threes this year, just 3 short of CJ McCollum at the time of this writing.

While the difference in overall production between Murray and Ingram may not be significant, how they arrive at their stat lines is. Murray is reaching his production as a clear second fiddle behind Trae Young, while Ingram has the status of a primary. Murray has had to adapt his game to fit around Young. He has transformed his shot profile from a 44% rim and three rate as the “guy” in San Antonio to a 58% rim and three rate as a complimentary secondary. Murray has halved his long two rate from his time in San Antonio and focused more on the “Chris Paul and in” spot. Everything the Pelicans have asked Ingram to do to his shot profile, Murray has done it.

The difference between Ingram and Murray really gets hammered home by the financials. Ingram is approaching the final year of his 25% max contract. He will be in line for 30% max contract. Murray’s extension begins at just 17.96% of the projected cap and declines to 16% by the final year because the cap is projected to outpace his raises. Over the duration of their contracts, Murray will cost on average 60% of Ingram on a year to year basis. For a guy that can approximate 99% of Ingram’s production, and perhaps even exceed it if the defense and rebounding from San Antonio comes back, Murray seems like a no-brainer addition.

Creating financial wiggle room allows the Pelicans to be aggressive in pursuing center options with Ingram as the prize. The center I personally have my eyes on is Evan Mobley. There’s been absolutely no indication Cleveland wants to move him and I fully recognize it as an ambitious possibility. Bear with me though. I am a firm believer that Cleveland is going to separate their twin towers. They are presently experiencing massive success with Jarrett Allen, Donovan Mitchell, and shooters. If Allen is indeed the guy the Cavs decide they want to keep, an Ingram for Mobley swap makes a ton of sense for both parties (yeah yeah I know you have to match salaries).

Let’s exit fantasy land for now. Assuming Mobley isn’t on the table, I still believe the Pelicans would have plenty of purchasing power for their center of choice with Ingram this summer. Revisit the Jarrett Allen talks. Find out if Indiana is willing to move on Turner. Maybe a desperate Detroit or Charlotte team would part with Duren or Williams. I would use Ingram’s name brand to it’s fullest extent. The pathways to an elite center are always more accessible when you put a versatile wing on the market.

What To Do This Season and Concluding Thoughts

Moving Valanciunas will create a giant hole until it is filled. I think the Pelicans, while they wait of better opportunity in the summer with Ingram, would need to find a stop gap and lean into more small ball. Naji Marshall remains an expendable piece that can hopefully fetch the stop gap big for the remainder of the season. Here are some names I have in mind:

• Orlando Robinson

• Xavier Tillman

• Drew Eubanks

• Bismack Biyombo

• Andre Drummond

• Goga Bitadze (I wish)

The Pelicans can also just roll the dice with Cody, Larry, and Karlo this season. It won’t be pretty, but I think they could survive 15 minutes of Cody, 25 minutes of Larry, and 8 minutes of Herb or Zion at center. Dejounte Murray gives them a much more powerful small ball configuration than they currently have.

Team building is not linear. It’s a complex puzzle that requires foresight and an anticipation of problems. If you see the need to split the Ingram and Zion duo as inevitable as I do, it makes sense to start preparing for it now. Murray gives them a future at the guard position, a production replacement for Ingram, and a pathway to their future center. He comes with contractual safety. More importantly, I think Murray “fixes” the hierarchy issues. There would be no question that this is a Zion led team. There would be no obligation to present Murray as the face of the franchise. Maybe none of it ends up working for them, but turning Ingram, Valanciunas, and Dyson into long term solutions at the guard and center positions is a path I can get behind.