The Atlanta Hawks traded Dejounte Murray to the New Orleans Pelicans during the 2024 offseason in a deal that saw the former All-Star change teams but the two organizations remain intertwined.
In an unfortunate twist of fate, Murray has suffered a season-ending Achilles injury, per NBA insider Chris Haynes on January 31.
Murray suffered the injury in the first quarter of the Pelicans’ tilt against the Boston Celtics.
Dejounte Murray was helped to the locker room after suffering an apparent non-contact injury on this play 🙏 pic.twitter.com/4HVeiNwduI
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 1, 2025
It has been a snake-bitten start to his Pelicans tenure for Murray. He missed 17 of the first 18 games with a broken hand. But he had missed just one game since then before suffering this injury tonight.
This is the second season-ending injury of Murray’s career. He also tore his ACL in 2018, missing the 2018-19 season.
There are significant implications for the Hawks.
The Hawks and Pelicans are rumored to have held trade talks about Brandon Ingram, with New Orleans looking to get under the luxury tax. Those talks did not get far, though, and it is fair to wonder how Murray’s injury impacts Pelicans general manager David Griffin’s thinking.
This injury figures to linger into next season, so there are a lot of moving parts for the Pelicans to consider.
Murray is in Year 1 of a four-year, $114 million contract extension.
‘Cursed’ Pelicans lose former Hawks star Dejounte Murray to season-ending Achilles injury
The Hawks are hardly strangers to injuries. Most notably, they lost Jalen Johnson to a torn labrum that required season-ending surgery. Murray had sent well wishes to Johnson on Instagram, with the latter calling his former teammate a “real one” for the sentiments.
But Murray’s injury harkens back to comments from Hawks guard Dyson Daniels.
“That organization's cursed,” Daniels told Jake Fischer in an interview published on December 13. “Every year there's something new. I’m happy I’m not there anymore.
“The curse, man. I had like four or five ankle injuries down there as well. There's something down in that water down there or something. They got hamstrings. They got knees. They got concussions and stuff as well. They get everything down there. I don’t know what it is. Playing hard I guess?”
The Hawks also own the Pelicans’ first-round pick in 2027.
That pick will be the least favorable between the Pelicans and Milwaukee Bucks – top-four protected – though, so the Hawks need both teams to be bad anyway. The trade deadline is on February 6 and there are still a lot of moving parts.