Dejounte Murray-to-Lakers rumors will intensify after latest intel

Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

According to a recent report, the Los Angeles Lakers are prioritizing making a trade for Atlanta Hawks star Dejounte Murray.

“From my understanding, Dejounte Murray is their priority right now,” Jovan Buha said. “To me, he’d be the most likely trade outcome right now if I was handicapping the odds. I think they’re the favorites to land him. Again, the big hurdle right now is finding that third team.”

Another NBA insider in Michael Scotto then went on to say that Murray is arguably the biggest name of any available player in the league.

“Jovan, you touched on the Lakers having Dejounte as their top trade target,” Scotto said. “I’d say he’s certainly the biggest name they’re looking at, too, and I’d argue on a bigger scale, when you look across the league, he may be the biggest name left on the board.”

This intel comes in light of a report from The Athletic’s Sam Amick that the Lakers have inched closer to making a trade for the 27-year-old.

Murray has arguably been the second-best player on the Hawks so far during the 2023-24 regular season, behind only Trae Young. He has yet to sit out a game for Atlanta this season and is averaging 21.4 points, 5.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game while shooting 46.8 percent from the field and 38.7 percent from deep.

He played 33 minutes in the Hawks’ most recent game on Jan. 24 against the Golden State Warriors and dropped 23 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and one steal. But despite Murray’s big game, the Hawks lost to the Warriors by 22 points, which marked the team’s third loss in a row.

Atlanta is on pace for another mediocre season. The team owns the No. 10 seed in the Eastern Conference at the moment with an 18-26 record and is two-and-a-half games back of the Chicago Bulls — who have won six out of their past 10 games — for the No. 9 seed in the conference.

The Lakers are on track to have a mediocre season as well. Los Angeles sits as the No. 9 seed in the Western Conference and is one game below the .500 mark with more than half of the 2023-24 regular season in the books.

Los Angeles has a matchup against the Bulls on the horizon, as the Lakers will host Chicago on Thursday night. The Lakers have played much better basketball at home this season than on the road, considering the team owns a 16-8 home record and 6-15 road record.

The clock is ticking for the Lakers in their pursuit of Murray. The team has until the Feb. 8 trade deadline to get a deal done for the one-time All-Star.