Despite the complicated context, Dejounte Murray wants to help the Pelicans

The final cleaning of the season, always complicated, from Pelicans. Thirteen months after the rupture of the Achilles tendon, Dejounte Murray will be in uniform tonight to play his first match of the season!

So it’s the end of a long wait for the leader, who has had a string of injuries since arriving in Louisiana in the summer of 2024. A victim of a broken hand in the first game of last season, he ended up playing just 31 games with the Pelicans.

Suffice to say, the former Spurs and Hawks have been eagerly awaiting this moment. Even if the situation is very complicated for New Orleans, currently second to last in the West, Dejounte Murray never thought of giving up on the big month and a half days of the remaining competition. That’s just not his mentality.

“There are many excuses an idiot could use to say, ‘No, I’m not playing.’ And I’m the complete opposite.”, he said yesterdayafter training. “What I’ve experienced, what I’m experiencing, I use that to fuel my motivation. I love this game so much and I’ve done everything I can to say I want to get back on the court and play, not only for my family and the franchise, but for the city of New Orleans. And I feel like my best basketball is still ahead of me. I don’t like and I prefer this lifestyle to the money. everything I can out of it until it’s over.

A place for (re)invention

A leader’s speech that should do the most good for his teammates and his new coach, James Borrego.

He took over from Willie Green, who was fired during his leader’s recovery, and will now be able to rely on the benchmark creator to try to change the dynamic since he took over.

“It says a lot about his character, that he cares about his team. I’m not saying that anybody who gets an injury like that would be ready to play right now. But this kid wants to play, wants to be on the court, be competitive. He wants to be with his teammates and he wants to win.”James Borrego slipped.

Unfortunately for him, the context has changed a lot in Louisiana since his injury. Besides the departure of Willie Green, CJ McCollum is no longer there, nor is Brandon Ingram, and the franchise, now led by Joe Dumars, has already activated the reconstruction process around the youngest. The future is now shaping up around Zion Williamson, but also Trey Murphy III, Herb Jones, and even rookies Jeremiah Fears and Derrick Quinn.

Here too, the change in team status did not diminish the motivation of Dejounte Murray, more determined than ever to play, but also to take on the role of big brother.

“He represents the future, he’s going to be big. My job is to continue to be a professional, work on my game and show him what it’s all about. He’s a confident young man, but he also has to understand that he has a lot of ups and downs.”he said of Jeremiah Fears.

How to read statistics? MJ = matches played; Min = Minute; Shots = Shots Successful / Shots Attempted; 3 points = 3 points / 3 points in an attempt; LF = free throws made / free throws attempted; Off = offensive rebound; Def=defensive jump; Tot = Total number of jumps; Pd = assists; Fte: Personal mistakes; Int = intercepts; Bp = lost balls; Ct: Against; Points = Points.