METAIRIE, La. (AP) — Dejounte Murray took no offense to being traded after each of his two best seasons in the NBA.
Rather, the 27-year-old point guard says he’s gratified by the opportunity to join a team that made the 2024 playoffs and is headlined by Zion Williamson — who showed up Tuesday for Murray’s introductory news conference at the New Orleans Pelicans’ headquarters.
Murray figures his future in New Orleans will be determined more by team results than by how he performs individually — and he can accept that.
“It’s a business and I stay out of when it comes to the front office,” Murray said. “You’ve got to realize, in the NBA, you have to win. It’s not on one player. You always have to do what’s best for your team and sometimes those are hard things and I understand.”
Murray’s main goal is “working hard and being a great person,” he said. “That’s the same thing I try to tell young guys coming into the league — control what you can control.”
Murray was an All-Star during the 2021-22 season, when he averaged 21.1 rebounds, 9.2 assists and two steals per game for San Antonio. That wound up being his last season with the Spurs, who’d selected him 29th overall out of Washington in the 2016 NBA draft.
