Dejounte Murray #5 of the New Orleans Pelicans could be a surprise entry on the NBA trade rumor mill.
Dejounte Murray #5 of the New Orleans Pelicans could be a surprise entry on the NBA trade rumor mill.
The New Orleans Pelicans are 16-42 and second to last in the Western Conference. The season has been difficult in ways that go well beyond the standings. A new front office, a change in head coach, trades that reshaped the roster, and an injury list that never seemed to get shorter. Twenty-four games remain and the playoffs are not a realistic conversation.
But Tuesday night against the Golden State Warriors is something different. For the first time in more than 13 months, Dejounte Murray will be back on the floor.
The city of New Orleans has been waiting for this. So has he.
Murray’s Status for Tuesday’s Matchup
Murray is listed as available for Tuesday’s game against the Warriors at Smoothie King Center. It will be his first action in more than 13 months.
On January 31, 2025, in a game against the Boston Celtics, Murray ruptured his right Achilles tendon on a non-contact play. He had already missed 17 games earlier that season with a broken hand, limiting him to just 31 appearances in his first year with New Orleans. The clearance to return on Tuesday is the end of a long road back.
Murray made his feelings about the return clear on Monday.
“I’m here, I love New Orleans, I love the people,” Murray said. “This is the reason I’m coming back. I’m not one of those guys like, I’m paid, I could get an extra 6-7 months, or our team is 14th in the West. There are a lot of excuses for a chump to say, ‘No, I ain’t playing.’ I am the opposite of that.”
He will likely be on a minutes restriction as he works his way back. How much he plays Tuesday is secondary to the fact that he is playing at all.
What He Has Been Through
The injury was one chapter in a sequence that would have broken most people. Murray sat down with The Athletic’s Mirin Fader to talk about it.
In the months leading up to the Achilles rupture, Murray’s mother suffered a stroke the week before his first game of the season. His cousin was killed. His uncle suffered an overdose. Then came the hand injury, the missed games, and finally the Achilles on a January night in New Orleans.
“It was literally the worst three months of my professional career on and off the floor,” Murray told Fader. “I was never able to focus on basketball.”
He did not stay down. When a doctor suggested his career might be over after Murray struggled to complete a basic calf raise in the early stages of rehab, the response was characteristic.
“I grew up around crime, violence and negativity my whole life,” Murray said. “The energy, I don’t like being around that. What’s the alternative? How are we gonna get through this? What’s the plan?”
He kept working. The calf raise eventually came. So did everything else.
Murray’s own words on the comeback say everything about who he is. “I’m gonna get up every single time,” he said. “What I’ve been through, what I go through, I use that all to fuel the fire. I feel like my best basketball is ahead of me.”
What Murray Brings Back to the Pelicans
Over eight NBA seasons with the San Antonio Spurs, Atlanta Hawks and Pelicans, Murray has averaged 15.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 1.5 steals per game. He earned an All-Star selection with San Antonio in 2022 and has been one of the better two-way guards in the league when healthy.
For a Pelicans team that has struggled with guard play since trading Jose Alvarado at the deadline, his return addresses a genuine need. Jeremiah Fears has taken on a heavy load as a rookie. Jordan Poole has had an uncertain role. Murray’s experience and ability to run an offense gives this young group something it has been missing.
Interim head coach James Borrego has been clear about what Murray’s return means beyond the basketball.
“It speaks to his character, that he cares,” Borrego said. “I’m not saying that everybody coming off this injury would even play right now. This kid wants to play. He wants to be out there on the floor…to compete…to be out there with his teammates. He wants to win.”
Final Word for the Pelicans
Dejounte Murray has been through more in the last 13 months than most people face in their lifetime. The injuries were only part of it.
He kept showing up anyway. To rehab, to the group chat, to his teammates. Every single day for more than a year, working toward a Tuesday night in New Orleans against the Golden State Warriors.
He said his best basketball is ahead of him. Tuesday is the first chance to find out if he meant it.
New Orleans will be glad to have him back.