Dejounte Murray has asked the New Orleans Pelicans for a trade, with reports indicating the 30-year-old guard has strong interest in joining the Phoenix Suns as his struggling team sits 12th in the Western Conference at 4-8.
The trade request was first reported by ESPN and confirmed Friday by The Athletic, which wrote plainly that “Dejounte Murray has asked the New Orleans Pelicans for a trade.” According to the same report, a league source said the Pelicans guard has strong interest in joining Phoenix. ESPN separately reported that Murray's agent, Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul, and Pelicans officials had already started working on a resolution for the one-time All-Star.
Murray's camp has been hopeful a deal could send him to Phoenix in exchange for Suns guard Jalen Green, according to Sports Illustrated. But a Suns team source told the Athletic there have been no talks as yet about a possible Green-for-Murray deal specifically.
Conflicting Reports on Suns' Involvement
Beyond the Green swap specifically, reporting diverges on just how far along any broader contact between the two franchises might be. Arizona Sports reported that the Suns have already “registered interest” with New Orleans about Murray's availability, attributing that reporting to Chris Haynes. On X, Haynes wrote that “the Phoenix Suns have registered interest in New Orleans Pelicans guard Dejounte Murray who has let it be known that he seeks a change of scenery, league sources tell me.”
Yet in a separate Arizona Sports report, John Gambadoro reported there are no active conversations between the Suns and Pelicans about Murray or anyone else. The dossier does not resolve which account is accurate, and both versions remain in circulation as of Friday.
A Rough Start Fuels the Unrest
The Pelicans were 4-8 after a 145-111 blowout loss at home to the Brooklyn Nets, as ESPN's report detailed. The Athletic noted the team's two most recent losses carried a combined deficit of 75 points, and Murray averaged just 8.5 points across those two games against Brooklyn and Golden State.
Murray is averaging 13.4 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game this season, a step down from the 16.6 points, 5.9 rebounds and 6.6 assists he posted across 54 regular-season games with New Orleans overall, per the Athletic's figures. The team has gone just 1-8 in games Murray has played this season, compared with 3-0 in games he's missed, according to the same report.
Social Media Friction Boiled Over
Murray's frustration reportedly came to a head after social-media posts criticized his recent play. An account identified as ProPelsTalk posted video clips on X highlighting Murray's miscues, and Murray responded by criticizing the plays and the team's situation before deleting that response, the Athletic reported. He also responded to and later deleted a post comparing the team's records with and without him, writing at one point that “the ‘sabotage’ is real!!”
Arizona Sports drew a comparison between Murray's vague social posts and a similarly cryptic 2017 post from Eric Bledsoe, who was ultimately shut down and dealt to the Milwaukee Bucks.
A Tenure Marked by Injury and Turnover
Murray arrived in New Orleans via a 2024 trade in which the Atlanta Hawks sent him to the Pelicans in exchange for Dyson Daniels, E.J. Liddell, Larry Nance Jr., Cody Zeller, a 2025 first-round pick and a 2027 first-round pick. David Griffin, the Pelicans executive who engineered the trade, was fired afterward, and Willie Green — who coached Murray in his very first game with the team — had been fired by the time Murray returned from his Achilles injury.
The guard's first season in New Orleans was marred by injury. He sustained a left-hand fracture during the team's first game in 2024 and missed 17 games as a result, then suffered an Achilles tendon tear on Jan. 31, 2025. Murray later described that first season with the Pelicans as his worst experience playing in the NBA, and he said in the summer of 2025 that New Orleans was not the team he expected to join as part of the trade.
Murray, who earns $32.8 million this season, has a 2027-28 player option that the Athletic reported at $30.8 million, though Arizona Sports listed the figure as $30.7 million. He could become an unrestricted free agent next summer if he opts out. A 2017-18 All-Defensive Second Team honoree and a 2021-22 All-Star with the San Antonio Spurs, Murray now finds his future tied to a Pelicans team that drafted Jeremiah Fears with the No. 7 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft as its point guard of the future — a pick that looms over any decision on how, or whether, to move Murray during this stretch of struggle.
