REPORT: Knicks interested in Dejounte Murray

At Hoopshype today, Michael Scotto served up the latest trade season noise, this time with a dollop of Knickerbockers.

Scotto reports that despite Mitchell Robinson’s recent injury, New York is actively exploring trade options for other positions. Specifically, they have shown interest in Atlanta Hawks’ guard Dejounte Murray, although he can’t be moved just yet:

The Knicks are among several teams who’ve expressed exploratory trade interest in Hawks guard Dejounte Murray, league sources told HoopsHype.

Murray can’t be traded until Jan. 9 after agreeing to a four-year, $120 million contract extension with the Hawks in July. However, given Atlanta’s sluggish start to the season as a fringe Play-In team following Jalen Johnson’s injury, nothing can be considered off the table for the Hawks in addition to usual trade suspects De’Andre Hunter and Clint Capela.

This season in Atlanta, Murray has averaged 20 points, 5.4 assists, and 4.3 rebounds in 27 games while shooting 37% from the deep. His current defensive rating of 121. Presumably, he would assume the role of starting shooting guard for New York, and since the Knicks are already overloaded with guards, we can guess that Immanuel Quickley would be included in the outgoing package. As Scotto observes, Quickley is considered the Knicks’ second-best trade asset after Jalen Brunson.

According to Basketball-Reference.com, the 27-year-old Murray averages 27.6 points per 100 minutes. Same criteria for the 24-year-old Quickley? 30.9 points. Reportedly, Leon Rose & Co. chose not to give Quickley $20+ Million per year during the offseason contract negotiations. Murray will make $25.5M next season and then work his way up to $31.6M in 2027-28. Furthermore, Quickley wins in personality points by, like, a mile. If it were my money, I’d give it to Quick, thank you very much.

The Knicks also remain keen on trading for Raptors forward OG Anunoby, with discussions potentially involving RJ Barrett. Hard to believe that deal gets done, though, with the ongoing legal squabble between the two clubs, but stranger things have happened. Also, consider this wise warning from Charluca: “I think people here will end up hating OG even more than RJ, given that he is even more inconsistent on offense than RJ.”

Finally, Scotto also reports that Evan Fournier’s expiring contract and three-point shooting prowess have been offered in potential trades by the Knicks. So far, no bites.

Go Knicks!