Trae Young calls out NBA over Dejounte Murray after Hawks beat Pistons

Trae Young missed the Atlanta Hawks’ (6-4) win over the Detroit Pistons, and for good reason.

Atlanta won 126-120, largely on the strength of a 32-point effort by Dejounte Murray. When the final horn sounded, Murray was also credited with nine assists, five rebounds, and three steals to just two turnovers. But there was one error egregious enough for Young to chime in.

“@NBA DJ had 10ast too, on the last bucket of the game to JJ,” Young exclaimed in a post on X. “That’s a 30 & 10.”

“Number one: I don’t play for stats. So I don’t care. The win column’s the most important,” Murray said via the team. “But that’s my guy. I appreciate him. Usually, it’s him getting the double-doubles. But like I said it was a great team win and, at the end of the day I’m just trying to compete at a high level and win basketball games.”

Murray scored 11 points in the first and third quarters.

He finished similar to how he started, dishing out four assists in the final frame, matching his mark from the first quarter.

The Hawks were up by seven points when Murray made the play in question He snagged the rebound off a Cade Cunningham miss on a three-pointer. After racing back across halfcourt, Murray dropped a bounce pass to Johnson. The latter took a couple of dribbles before knocking down the dagger jumper.

It was likely the brief dribbling that led to the confusion about Murray’s final stat line. This was the seventh time in Murray’s career that he has scored at least 30 points and doled out at least 10 assists in a single game and his first time in a Hawks uniform.

Murray’s career-high in assists is 15 and 12 for his Hawks tenure.

His career-high in points is 41 which he has reached twice, both times as a Hawk. He became the first player in the NBA this season to reach the 30-point, 10-assists, five-rebound, three-steal mark in a single game.

Fortunately, the league adjusted Murray’s final stat line.

Dejounte Murray on big game in Hawks’ win: ‘Just being myself’

“First of all, we’re missing a big part of you our team, the head of the snake: Trae Young. So we knew we had to come out extra aggressive, extra ready, different game plans,” Murray said. “I mean nothing changed. I just went out knowing that Trae was out and, obviously, I had the ball more. And just playing my game, just being myself. That’s it.”

The Hawks notched their first win of the In-Season Tournament, joining the Indiana Pacers as the only undefeated teams in their group, Group B.

The Hawks’ next outing comes on Wednesday against the New York Knicks. It is unclear if Young will be back in the lineup after welcoming a new baby into his family.