Latest Trey Murphy III rumor suggests a repeat of last year's draft-night mistake

The NBA Draft is within a day's reach, and the rumors about the New Orleans Pelicans trading into the lottery of this draft are only getting hotter. 

To this point, the only concrete opportunity for Joe Dumars to achieve his goal of acquiring a lottery selection has been the Golden State Warriors, who own No. 11. The Warriors' long-standing affinity with trading for Trey Murphy III has made them an obvious suitor to trade a top selection in the draft to New Orleans. But apparently, the Warriors now aren’t the only team entertaining giving up a lottery selection for Murphy III, as the Atlanta Hawks have entered the chat.

According to Locked on Pelicans host Jake Madison, New Orleans has been having discussions with the Hawks centered around the No. 8 pick in Tuesday’s draft. The Hawks were a playoff team last season and only have a lottery selection because the Pelicans traded their unprotected first-round pick to them for Derik Queen during the 2025 NBA Draft. 

Pelicans risk getting fleeced by the Hawks again

Since moving on from Trae Young, the Hawks have embraced a new identity built on ball movement, pace, and shooting that Murphy III would slot into perfectly. Having him alongside Jalen Johnson at the forward spots would create a great marriage of shooting and downhill scoring.

For the Pelicans, this deal makes little to no sense from my perspective. Since the 2025-26 season concluded, everything we’ve heard and been told by Pelicans management suggests this team’s goal is to win games and be competitive next season. How does trading your most versatile scorer for a lottery pick do that? I’m not sure. Once again, I'm not sure if Joe Dumars or Troy Weaver even know why they're interested in this.

Think about how bad the process would be for the Pelicans to trade an ascending two-way talent for your pick back after making a bad trade last summer. When you think about it, if New Orleans got No. 8 from the Hawks, that would mean, in theory, they traded Trey Murphy III for Derik Queen. That is a horrific reality, especially if it was capped off by selecting Nate Ament with that pick, who has been linked to the Pelicans by NBA Insider Jake Fischer. 

The majority of fans spent the 2025-26 season getting over the Derik Queen draft-night deal and convincing themselves that they liked Queen and envisioned a future with him. All of that goes out the window if they reopen that wound by trading with the Hawks and sending Murphy III there for a pick they could’ve just kept.

I’ve made it clear I’m pro-trade Trey Murphy III. If Joe Dumars wants to see his vision of a winning product next season, moving Murphy III to round out the roster and bring in depth and future assets sounds like a good call. But that’s not what either a deal with the Hawks or the Warriors would bring. Last season, New Orleans tried to play two timelines, and it resulted in a 26-win season. That same result is bound to repeat if Dumars goes through with a deal like this and moves a 26-year-old forward for a package headlined by the unknown of a lottery selection.

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