Former Hawks All-Star proposes shocking Dejounte Murray-Brandon Ingram trade

Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks were blessed by the basketball gods on Sunday afternoon when it was announced that, despite having just a three percent chance of doing so going in, the team had somehow won the NBA Draft lottery and has the number one overall pick in the upcoming NBA Draft in June. The downside of course is that this year’s draft is widely regarded to be one of the worst in recent NBA history from a talent perspective, but for a Hawks team that is entering an offseason filled with more questions than answers–including some about Young himself–they’ll certainly take all of the luck they can get.

The 2024 offseason figures to be a crossroads of sorts for the Hawks, who have been on a steady downhill trajectory since their run to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2021, which established Young as a star in the NBA. Some have proposed that Atlanta undergo a full on rebuild this offseason, while others have suggested that the team simply retool their roster around Young and some pieces that are a more natural fit for the talented but limited point guard.

One person who falls into the second camp is none other than former Hawks point guard and 2014-15 NBA All-Star Jeff Teague, who recently took to his Club 520 Podcast to outline a trade he envisions between the Hawks and the New Orleans Pelicans.

“I say they’re going to trade Dejounte Murray for Brandon Ingram,” said Teague, per Club 520 Podcast on YouTube. “I think they’re going to do that straight up… So we get Brandon Ingram, boom. Then we swap our number one pick out and get another key player. We’ve just got to figure out what it is. It might be like a Mikal Bridges or something. Maybe we can pry Mikal Bridges from the f****** Nets… we need some better wings. We need to give up De’Andre Hunter and the number one pick for Mikal Bridges.”

The Hawks have options

Regardless of the circumstances or how untalented the draft class projects to be, having the number one overall pick is always a better situation than not having the number one overall pick. With that being said, because of how poorly regarded this draft class is, it’s unclear if the number one pick would be enough to net even a player of Bridges’ caliber, as Teague suggested, before throwing in the De’Andre Hunter caveat.

One thing that has been made abundantly clear over the last two years is that Trae Young and Dejounte Murray do not complement one another on the court, regardless of how friendly they may be with one another off of it. The Hawks are widely expected to move at least one–if not both–of their starting backcourt players this offseason in an attempt to either rebuild or retool their roster in the hopes of competing in the vaunted Eastern Conference playoff picture.

In any case, the NBA Draft is slated to get underway on June 26.