Trade grades: Hawks look to compete in East with Murray acquisition

30.06.2022, 04:37 sportingnews.com

The NBA Draft is done, and free agency negotiations won't start until 6 pm ET on Thursday, June 30, but teams are still making moves. On Wednesday, reports indicated that the first major move of the offseason had been undertaken and it involved the Atlanta Hawks and the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs sent their All-Star guard Dejounte Murray to the Eastern Conference in exchange for the Hawks sending back Danilo Gallinari and three first-round picks, and a pick swap in 2026. The Hawks are sending three first-round picks and a future pick swap to the Spurs to pair Murray with All-NBA guard Trae Young, sources tell ESPN. https://t.co/rxHtyr63jl— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) Who won the deal? We have you covered with some trade grades below. The Hawks didn't have to give up that much to get another All-Star around point guard Trae Young. The Hawks are sending a 2023 first-round pick via Charlotte, and their own 2025 and 2027 first-round picks to the Spurs in the deal. Given that the Hawks figure to be a playoff team (at the very least) for the next few seasons with the acquisition of Murray, their two first-round picks don't figure to be high picks at all. The same could be said for the pick coming from the Hornets. Charlotte promises to at least flirt with the Play-In tournament, so that 2023 first-rounder might also be mid-to-late in the draft next year. Additionally, ESPN's Zach Lowe reported that the 2025 and 2027 first-rounders are unprotected picks. The 2025 and 2027 first-rounders are unprotected ATL first-round picks, per league source. https://t.co/6M1PAaCfQ8— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) The Hawks' backcourt next season will be a problem for opposing defenses to handle. Murray and Young will be the first pair of teammates in NBA history who each averaged 20 points and eight assists per game in the previous season. After making the Eastern Conference Finals in 2020, the Hawks believed they were on the precipice of something special as Young showed that he was the face of the franchise, but the team took a step back this past season, finishing as the No. 8 seed and losing to the Heat in five games. Murray averaged a career-high 21.1 points, 9.2 assists, 8.3 rebounds and 2.0 steals last season, earning All-Star honors for the first time in his career. He also set the new single-season record for the Spurs with 13 triple-doubles on the season. It will be interesting to see how Atlanta pairs this duo moving forward, but still, it's hard to see this trade as anything but a win for the Hawks. Trade grade: A- Murray signed a rookie extension four-year, $64 million contract with the Spurs in 2020, meaning he still has two more seasons to go. He is set to earn $16.5 million in 2022-23, and $17.7 million in 2023-24 before becoming an unrestricted free agent. For the Spurs, this deal is confusing in many ways. They're clearing building for the future by taking on Gallinari's expiring contract (and his $21.5 million salary this coming season is only partially guaranteed), and the future firsts also indicate that the Spurs have an eye toward the future, but logic would dictate that Murray surely was a good piece to build around for that? The Spurs also had him under a team-friendly deal with two more seasons and roughly $34 million on the books. San Antonio made the Play-In tournament this past season, which speaks more to how bad the Lakers were late in the season which allowed the Spurs to even have a chance of that. Essentially, the Spurs received three picks that project to be in the late teens to mid-20s and a veteran expiring contract for a 25-year-old All-Star. The Spurs are all-in on the tank next season (are we allowed to call it that?) but, as TSN's own Micah Adams has shown, their drafting in the first round in recent years has left a lot to be desired, with the selection of Murray at No. 29 in 2017 being the only home run. And now, he's gone. Trade grade: C