The Hawks are in the middle of remaking their roster around star point …….

The Hawks are in the middle of remaking their roster around star point guard Trae Young and they made a huge trade today by sending guard Dejounte Murray to the New Orleans Pelicans for Dyson Daniels, Larry Nance, and two first round picks. While not getting a big name player in return, the Hawks get one of the best point of attack defenders in the NBA (a huge need for Atlanta), a solid rotational piece in Larry Nance, and two first round picks in years they did not have one (2025 and 2027). For the first time since being traded to the Pelicans, Murray shared his reaction on social media:

I have said it before, but the Hawks have done a poor job of putting together a capable roster around Young. Young’s biggest weakness is obviously his defense and his size and that can make putting a winning team around him a challenge, but it is not impossible.

In the summer of 2022, Atlanta traded for Murray, sending out a ton of future draft capital in the process. Murray was supposed to work next to Young and improve the Hawks’s perimeter defense, as well as give Atlanta another playmaking ball-handler.

It is safe to say that that has not been the case since Murray has been in Atlanta. Murray has not been a bad player at all for the Hawks, but he has not been the defensive stalwart they had hoped for when they traded for him. He has been a good player in the locker room and a good leader for the franchise, but the Hawks are going in a different direction, as signaled by this trade.

It was becoming increasingly clear that the Hawks roster was not built to win around Trae Young and that they were going to have to make adjustments. It was a goal from Atlanta this offseason to get better on defense, get more size, and have better point-of-attack defenders and so far, they are doing that. I would expect more moves to come though from this team.