After spending over a year rehabilitating from a devastating ACL injury, Murray made his debut against the Golden State Warriors on February 24th, immediately joining the starting lineup.
Murray produced a respectable 13-2-3-1 stat line on 25 minutes of play. While he was very visibly shaking off the rust from over a year of being on the shelf for New Orleans, if he had lost a step, you'd have had to squint to see it. His first basket came on a beautiful double-clutch reverse layup with plenty of airtime, and he played with the same ferocity and effort all night long.
After the victory against the Warriors, Dejounte called out Pelican fans who have already written off this squad with so much to prove:
Duh!!! Are we a contender? No. Can we reach top 6 spot? No. Can we build some momentum playing together and build winning habits rest of the season? Yes. Can we treat every game like a championship game and win win win? Yes. Can we get in them last spots in the play in??? Duhhhhh https://t.co/NZ9tfYgrwD
— Dejounte Murray (@DejounteMurray) February 25, 2026
Murray is absolutely correct on both counts. First, the Pelicans are far, far too low in the standings and in the win column to outright play their way into the 6 seed (much less, any higher). The Pelicans are a whopping 18 games behind the incumbent 6-seed Los Angeles Lakers, a gap hardly realistic to close down, especially with only ~25 games remaining for each team.
Conversely, the Pels are only 11 games back of both the 9th and 10th-seeded Blazers and Clippers. While 11 games is quite a large gap to make up in only 23 games for New Orleans, it's not impossible, especially when Portland can look to tank for their pick, and LAC just dealt away James Harden.
Murray is exactly the ringleader the Pelicans needed
Dejounte is a fierce, fierce competitor.
If nothing else, Hawks fans should have learned this much about the former All-Star during his tenure in Atlanta. Dejounte Murray loves to win games, and perhaps even more, Dejounte Murray hates to lose.
Murray was clearly fed up with the discourse surrounding a Pelican squad down in the dumps, seemingly given up on a season despite a multitude of games yet to be played on the calendar.
Dejounte's fire carries both on and off the court. Quotes like this are exactly why Hawks fans should be worried about the Pelicans pick that Atlanta owns the rights to this summer: "...every game is a championship game for me. I want to instill that into my brothers (teammates)."
Look for the New Orleans Pelicans to start to win a lot more games - and for Dejounte, this would pack twice the punch. Not only would he get to prove he still belongs in the league post-injury, he would be able to deliver a gut-punch to his former team in Atlanta, desperate for a top pick in this loaded 2026 NBA Draft.