Trae Young On Failed Dejounte Murray Partnership: ‘It Just Sucks It Didn’t Work’

Atlanta Hawks point guard Trae Young is disappointed his partnership with Dejounte Murray didn’t work. Young and Murray, two of the top guards in the NBA, were teammates for two seasons before the Hawks traded Murray to the New Orleans Pelicans this offseason. 

Young spoke about Murray on the latest episode of Paul George‘s podcast, “Podcast P With Paul George.”

“I mean it was good and bad, you know what I’m saying? The only bad part is we didn’t get to win as much as we wanted to be honest with you,” Young said. “The good part is we have a lifelong relationship. Our relationship goes outside of basketball. We’re both family men. Our morals are very much similar as far as who we have around us…The way we get along off the court is forever. That’s why our relationship is forever. But on the court, it’s just tough. We wanted to win but it’s just sometimes we’re not the first duo that couldn’t work and we’re not going to be the last…it just didn’t work out on the court and it sucks. It sucks and we both admitted it sucks and that’s just part of the game. If it doesn’t work, teams have to figure out what to do next and make moves.

“I think it was tough. Both very unselfish in ways so it’s like there were times early where I’m just, I’m passing it to him and he wants to be aggressive but he’s a point guard too, so he’s not, you know what I’m saying, thinking score first all the time. But when I’m on the court sometimes he’s a shooting guard, but sometimes, you know what I’m saying? So it’s kind of like the combination just kind of didn’t work and on paper you may think it would because I mean in San Antonio he is a really good defender, known as just a defender, wasn’t really known as a scorer, but just a defender can kind of do everything. Rebound score, but get other guys involved. But when he came to us… it’s just a different feel and so it just sucks it didn’t work.”

The Hawks went 55-62 when Young and Murray were in the lineup. They lost to the Boston Celtics in the first round of the 2023 playoffs and missed the postseason this year. 

Murray appeared in 78 games for the Hawks last season. He averaged 22.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, 6.4 assists, 1.4 steals and 0.3 blocks.

Meanwhile, Young averaged 25.7 points, 2.8 rebounds and 10.8 assists in 54 games. He had 37 double-doubles.

The Hawks drafted Zaccharie Risacher with the first overall pick in this year’s NBA Draft. 

Young has been in NBA trade rumors this offseason. It will be fascinating to see if Atlanta trades or keeps the All-Star.