Will new Atlanta Hawks guard Dejounte Murray’s numbers regress by much
The Atlanta Hawks traded for Dejounte Murray in what could become one of the moves of the offseason. Murray was the leader of the Spurs last season and grew into an All-Star. While he may have sounded off on his old team recently, Murray is so excited to play for the Hawks who he believes will help them contend.
Last season Murray averaged 21.1 points, 9.2 assists, 8.3 rebounds, and a league-leading 2.0 steals in 34.8 minutes per game for the San Antonio Spurs. These are really impressive numbers on a losing team. It was not Murray’s fault that they were losing, the team is currently in rebuild mode.
However, this begs the question, what are the Hawks going to look like with Murray and Trae Young on the floor? What impact will Murray have on this team? While this remains to be seen, the answer is going to be in how he is utilized by Hawks head coach Nate McMillan.
Why it is unlikely that Dejounte Murray’s stats will fall too far with the Atlanta Hawks.
According to Basketball Reference, they believe that there will be a slight decrease in Murray’s numbers. They are suggesting that he will average 20.2 points, 8.1 assists, 8.4 rebounds, and 2.0 steals per game. This is not much of a regression for a player joining a team with an established point guard.
The thing is, McMillan is going to have either Young or Murray on the court at all times this season. Young is going to play off the ball more and Murray is going to create, being either the primary or secondary ballhandler when Young is on the court.
He is going to run the second unit when Young sits which is going to give him plenty of opportunities to get his numbers, which is going to solve the non-Young minutes. The Hawks lost the offensive productivity of Kevin Huerter, Danilo Gallinari, and Delon Wright which Murray is going to cover a large part of.
Murray is going to have a huge impact on the Hawks. This season is going to be one to watch.