Boston Celtics: Pros and Cons of trading for Dejounte Murray
By Chris Conte
Cons of the Boston Celtics trading for Dejounte Murray
As it stands, Murray is a damaging floor spacer and a poor scorer.
Although he’s made some significant strides in the midrange, his failure to extend his scoring outside the 3-point line and struggles from floater range make it so Boston would have to take a big gamble on his ability to improve in-between seasons.
He has shown he’s willing to put the work in, so it’s not necessarily his effort that’s in question, just more so whether or not he has the talent to actually make the jump.
Becoming a reliable 3-point shooter is not an easy ordeal, and it won’t be any different for Murray whose struggled from there for four seasons. If the Boston Celtics want to contend, they need to bring down the number of negative floor spacers to zero.
The other dilemma the Boston Celtics would run into while they try to acquire Murray would be the package they would have to send out for him.
Murray is 24 and is essentially the foundation of the Spurs young core, so trading for him would cost them a pretty penny.
The Spurs desperately need shooting, so say goodbye to Payton Pritchard and Aaron Nesmith.
Then, Boston would have to match his salary, which would mean Smart may be on the chopping block.
This is a best-case scenario, too — given how many teams are interested in Murray, Boston would likely be asked to give up Robert Williams if they wanted to outbid everyone else.
That is not a price worth meeting since Boston would now be down to one reliable big man and locked into a horrible shooting backcourt.
If Murray is on the team and Smart is not sent out to acquire him, he will walk next summer in free agency if the Boston Celtics still plan to create a max slot to sign Beal, Curry, Lavine, or someone else.
Smart is far from untradable, and replacing him with someone who plays almost exactly like him wouldn’t be an awful idea.
Still, trading for Murray would limit Boston’s flexibility moving forward. There’s less money for Fournier or Williams’ extensions and less cap space for newer deals next summer.
If the Cs trade for Murray, they lock themselves into him unless they find a suitor next summer to look to clear cap space.