The Los Angeles Lakers’ pursuit of Atlanta Hawks guard Dejounte Murray has been one of the most frequent storylines of trade deadline season.
It seems as though there is no attainable player the Lakers have more interest in and the Hawks might be serious in moving on from him for the right price.
But, of course, when it comes to trade deadline season, it’s hard to differentiate between the legitimate rumors and what is simply smoke. For a long while, Zach LaVine was seriously mentioned as a Lakers target, until it eventually came out that they had more interest in Alex Caruso and had no real reason to want LaVine at all.
Until a trade either does or doesn’t happen, it won’t be clear what is real and what isn’t. But news breakers, like Sam Amick of The Athletic, have done enough due diligence to believe that Murray to the Lakers is way more than just smoke:
“The question I was trying to bounce off people was specifically Dejounte with the Lakers. Is this us just trying to have the existential question of who’s gonna help LeBron that we’ve been asking for 20 years? Or is it like Dejounte is actually gonna be in a Lakers jersey? These are people who are in the know but don’t truly know, obviously nobody does yet. But it feels like that has got very real legs to it. Our Shams Charania has reported that the offers have gone back and forth. There was some chatter that the Hawks ideally would love to get their hands on Austin Reaves, that’s not gonna happen. So it’s a question of like how long does Landry Fields hold out? But it feels like the Lakers have separated themselves from the Dejounte pack and it feels like to some degree, they’ve locked in on him as a guy that they think can help them.”
The Lakers undoubtedly have interest in landing Murray. They clearly feel that his offensive numbers put him on an equal playing field with D’Angelo Russell while his defense — although nowhere near what it once was — remains better than their current guard rotation.
If that is the case and the Lakers are in serious pursuit, it’s now about matching the Hawks’ asking price. Reports have indicated a third team may need to be involved. With all of these moving parts, though, it would be surprising to see a deal get done with two weeks to go until the deadline as opposed to a few days.
Lakers could pursue All-Stars in offseason
Another option that the Lakers have reportedly discussed internally is standing pat at the deadline and pushing their chips to the offseason, when they have three first-round picks to trade as opposed to one.
If they do that, it could open the door to get bona fide All-Stars like Trae Young or Donovan Mitchell.
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