Trae Young Addresses What Went Wrong With Dejounte Murray Partnership

The Trae Young-Dejounte Murray experiment only lasted two seasons before the Atlanta Hawks decided to trade Murray to New Orleans.

Now, Young has opened up about the failed partnership during an appearance on Podcast P with Paul George.

“We’re not the first duo that couldn’t work and we’re not gonna be the last,” Young told George. “It just didn’t work out on the court. And it sucks. 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.

“It’s tough cause we wanted to win. We’re not the first duo that couldn’t work and we’re not going to be the last.”

Trae Young shares what it was like teaming up with Dejounte Murray.

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— Podcast P with Paul George (@PodcastPShow) August 12, 2024

“…I think it was tough ’cause we’re both very unselfish in ways. 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 thinking score first all the time. But when I’m on the court, sometimes he’s a shooting guard … So it’s kind of like the combination kind of just didn’t work.

“And on paper, you may think it would because in San Antonio, he’s a really good defender, known as just a defender, wasn’t really known as a scorer, get other guys involved. But when he came to us, it’s just a different, different feel. And so, I mean, it just sucks. It didn’t work.”

Young added that he and Murray would always share a close bond off the court.

“…The good part is we have a lifelong relationship,” he said. “Like 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, what we try to do with our everyday lifestyle, everything. We just try to do everything for others and things like that. The way we get along off the court is forever.”

In their two seasons together, Young and Murray won 41 and 36 games.

They lost to the Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs at the end of their first year together, and missed the playoffs in their second year.

Murray was traded to the New Orleans Pelicans on July 6 in exchange for Dyson Daniels, E.J. Liddell, Larry Nance Jr., Cody Zeller and two future first-round draft picks.