The Atlanta Hawks had a disappointing end to their season this past year, losing in the first round of the playoffs to the Miami Heat in just five games.
It was a far worse finish than they had the previous season, where they made an Eastern Conference Finals appearance against the Milwaukee Bucks.
The organization clearly sees that this regression may be a sign of things to come, and it appears that they may make a big move for a star player this offseason.
Reports have emerged on Thursday that the Hawks are in talks with the San Antonio Spurs for a trade centered around star point guard Dejounte Murray, with Hawks forward John Collins possibly heading to San Antonio in return.
The Hawks and Spurs have discussed a trade centered around John Collins and Dejounte Murray, per B/R's @JakeLFischer
Sources say it will take a 'Jrue Holiday-like package' to acquire Murray pic.twitter.com/vkbPKAVVKu
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 23, 2022
The Hawks would reportedly need to put together a “Jrue Holiday-like package” in order to get Murray from the Spurs, which certainly seems plausible for Atlanta.
The Milwaukee Bucks traded Eric Bledsoe, George Hill, and a pair of first-round picks in order to get Holiday back in 2020.
This likely hints that the Hawks would need to pair Collins with a number of first-round picks in order to trade for Murray. But considering the excellent season that Murray just had, this doesn’t sound like too much of a reach.
Murray averaged 21.3 points per game with 9.3 assists last season and was one of the lone bright spots on a bad San Antonio team this past year.
This report certainly has many around the NBA world talking, with many very surprised that the Spurs would want to trade Murray.
Trae hit 48% of his catch-and-shoot 3s last year. Just think about how many wide open shots Trae will get with Dejounte Murray
— zay (@stclaudeii) June 23, 2022
Listening to trade offers and shopping a player are not the same. Wouldn’t be very Spursy to trade Dejounte Murray after the season he just had
— Dylan Hunter Carter (@DylanHCarter) June 23, 2022
Spurs are on molly if they trade Dejounte Murray for anybody that’s not a bonafide all-star. Murray is a walking triple double.
— 73-9 and THEY LIED (@CuffsTheLegend) June 23, 2022
Murray may know that his days in San Antonio are numbered, tweeting this on Thursday in regards to the trade rumors.
Uh Ohhhhhhhhh 🍿 https://t.co/1NeNKS9oYG
— Dejounte Murray (@DejounteMurray) June 23, 2022
This will certainly be something to monitor as we plunge further into the NBA offseason.
It is certainly interesting that the Spurs are even listening to offers for their young star. But this may be signs of a full-on rebuild coming in San Antonio.
