Dejounte Murray's arrival to New Orleans comes with pros and cons

Dejounte Murray's arrival in New Orleans elevates the Pelicans into the top-six conversation of the conference. After being a play-in team last season, New Orleans felt the need to vastly improve in order to compete for a championship in loaded Western Conference. With nearly the entire conference capable of making the playoffs, Murray could be the missing piece for a team hoping to contend heading into Zion Williamson's prime years. But will Murray's arrival go smoothly?

Every player acquisition involves comes with expectations and concerns. The case of Murray is no different than any other player. New Orleans is acquiring a player with a high upside, who's already proven to be one of the league's best guards. But like any other player, Murray has his flaws. The real question for New Orleans: Can they overcome Murray's weaknesses with his strengths, or will the Pelicans' high-risk, high-reward move fail them? Below, we analyze the pros and cons of Murray.

Pro: Murray's playmaking

One area the Pelicans lacked last season was playmaking. Since moving on from Lonzo Ball and acquiring CJ McCollum, the Pelicans balanced offensive attack has led to several players being asked to be both faciliators and scorers. McCollum's been forced to play out of his natural position of shooting guard, handling the ball more as a point guard. Both Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson are capable passers, but still lack the needed vision to be a playmaker.

With Murray at the point guard position, McCollum can shift back to shooting guard, relying on his off-ball movement and shooting to create more looks for the Pelicans offense. With the ability to get downhill and score at will, Dejounte Murray will be happy to have a lob threat in Zion, while Ingram and McCollum can snipe teams with their perimeter shooting. Speaking of perimeter shooting, the Murray trade made the Pelicans better, but building around Zion requires shooting, a weakness of Murray's.

Con: Lack of consistent perimeter shooting

Murray averaged 23 points, five rebounds, and six assists last season, stepping up in the wake of Trae Young's injury-riddled season. With no Young in the lineup, Murray began to flourish with the ball in his hands, making plays for himself and others. Outside of a 39-game rookie season, Murray shot a career-best from three last season (36 percent). However, his career numbers suggest otherwise of his perimeter shooting, as just a 35 percent three-point shooter in his career.

Playing next to Zion, the importance of shooting is at an all-time high for the roster construction. Without shooting, teams will be able to pack the paint with defenders to slow down Williamson, leaving the rest of the Pels on the court left to figure it out. While 35 percent is an 'okay' number relative to league average from three (over 36 percent as a league), relying on Murray to stretch the floor isn't his strength. If New Orleans wants shooting around Zion, they must invest in pure shooters.

Pro: The 'little things'

Murray is an exceptional rebounder for a guard, one of the best in the league at his position. In his lone All-Star season in 2021-22 as a member of the San Antonio Spurs, Murray took the league by storm. With avergages of 20 points, eight rebounds, and nine assists per game, Murray finished second in Most Improved Player voting. Murray averaged two steals per game that season, which is still a career best number for him. Murray's toughness and knack for rebounding are huge positives.

With New Orleans prepared to play faster, smaller, and more versatile next season, Murray is the perfect 'swiss army knife' to have in the backcourt. Murray has remained healthy almost all of career, which is pleasant to here for a franchise riddled with injuries. With two constantly injured stars (Zion and Ingram), Murray may be asked to step into a high usage role, which he has already proven to be successful at based off of not only last season in Atlanta, but his last three seasons.

Murray's toughness, grit, and durability have all proven to be key components to his value on every team he's played for. But, the 'little things' can't outweigh the offense or defense, the latter of which has become a regressing portion of Murray's game. One of the biggest reasons New Orleans made the trade for Murray is because of his impact on both ends of the floor. Defensively, Murray was expected to rebuild Atlanta's defense, but it never happened. Is the failure Murray's fault?

Pro & Con: Defense

Dejounte's defense comes with high understanding of which Dejounte Murray is stepping foot on the basketball court. Having become more offensively driven over the last two plus seasons, Murray's defense has regressed from what it used to be. With Trae Young and Dejounte Murray both healthy, Atlanta's defensive rating (124.2) was among the league's worst. While Trae Young did his fair share failing to contribute on that end of the court, the stat is an indictment on Murray and his defense.

The cause for concern would stem from Murray's time in Atlanta. However, his ability to impact the game defensively has traveled with him throughout his career, a risk the Pelicans are clearly willing to take for their long-term future and championship window. Murray's perimeter defense comes at a time of need for New Orleans, who's become reliant on Jose Alvarado for defensive stops on the perimeter. While Alvarado is a capable defender, his offense is a reason to keep him off the floor.

Additionally, relying on CJ McCollum to stop any guard from scoring or getting to their spots has proven to be ineffective, but Murray's ability to take the team's best player or best offensive guard should relieve a lot of pressure off of McCollum defensively. This shift will allow McCollum more energy and more confidence offensively for the Pelicans. With Herb Jones as Murray's running mate defensively, the Pelicans increased their switchability defensively, and will only frustrate teams more.

Ultimately, the Pelicans trading for Dejounte Murray was a big win for their franchise. The Pelicans saw the need to improve, and they answered the call. Now, the remaining questions revolving around Murray come down to fit and his new skillset. Does Murray still have the same two-way effectiveness he had just a few seasons ago, or did the Pelicans trade for a completely different version of Murray?