5 players who should be traded during NBA Draft

No. 2 player who should be traded during NBA Draft: Dejounte Murray

The Hawks traded an alarming amount of their future to acquire Dejounte Murray last summer. The early returns were quite poor, with Atlanta finishing the year at exactly .500 — well below expectations for a team hoping to build on that not-so-distant conference finals appearance a couple years ago.

There was always built-in risk pairing Murray with Trae Young in the backcourt. The latter is the most ball-dominant point guard in the NBA east of Dallas. Murray was the central force in San Antonio’s offense before his arrival, sporting a high usage rate of his own and averaging 9.2 assists per game in his last season with the Spurs.

For Atlanta, the bet was simple: Murray is an All-Star who can lessen the burden on Trae Young, lead the second unit offensively, and completely revamp the Hawks’ porous perimeter defense. That last point was more than half the equation, frankly: Murray was supposed to be the Hawks’ long-missing perimeter stopper.

That ultimately wasn’t the case. Murray’s length and instincts still poked through from time to time, but he was far from the All-Defense force Atlanta fans expected. On the offensive end, he frequently looked lost without the ball in his hands, floating aimlessly on the perimeter and not shooting enough 3s to make the Young fit work. Had Young been more willing to explore his movement shooting ability off the ball, maybe Atlanta’s offense would have been something fearsome. But that wasn’t the case — Young still sported the seventh-highest usage rate in the NBA last season.

Atlanta cannot become the next victim of the NBA sunk cost fallacy. The Hawks will not receive the same trade value for Murray that San Antonio received from Atlanta. That shouldn’t prevent the front office from recognizing a failed experiment for what it is and making the best move for the team. If Murray can net the Hawks something like a rotation wing and a decent draft pick in the final year of his contract, that’s probably enough to warrant consideration.