Dejounte Murray has no issue with the Pelicans getting called out when the basketball demands it. Turn the ball over, miss an assignment, brick shots - that’s part of the job, and he knows it.
What Murray is pushing back on is the line getting crossed from basketball criticism into personal attacks. The 30-year-old said that in today’s social media-heavy coverage, that boundary gets blurred too easily, and he pointed to an All-Star incident at Starbucks as an example.
“I’m somebody who understands that all you guys have a job in this room. You know what I’m saying?
So if Dejounte was turning the ball over, that’s your job to be like, man, you got to take care of the damn ball,” he added. “You know, if Dejounte had a great game, I feel like it’s your job to (report that as well).”
Murray’s point is simple: accountability should go both ways. Players have to live with scrutiny when they play poorly, but reporters still need to draw a clean line between what happens on the floor and who a player is as a person.
That message came through during a casual run-in at a coffee shop.
“Quick funny thing. I ran into a guy at Starbucks here.
He covers the Pelicans, won’t say his name, but you know, we ran into each other,” Murray shared. “And he’s like, “Man, why you block me (on social media)?”
And it ended up being a great conversation.”
Instead of letting it turn into a bigger issue, Murray said the two talked it through.
“I just had to let him know that we're all human at the end of the day,” he explained. “But I think it should be more about criticizing how we play than who we are as a person, and he understood that. We left that situation with a great conversation and a great understanding.”
Murray also said there’s no need for everything to become a public fight online. The conversation at Starbucks, he suggested, did more than another round of back-and-forth ever could.
“You know, never too high, never too low,” Murray stated. “I respect you guys job.
I just think when it gets personal, that’s where the problems come from. But criticize me.
Good, bad, it doesn’t matter when it comes to the game of basketball.”
In Murray’s view, the Pelicans will earn respect on the court, not through what’s said about them outside of it. Criticism is part of the deal. Personal shots are where the trouble starts.
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