Dejounte Murray’s next season in New Orleans feels less like a fresh start than a test of trust.
The Pelicans have spent most of his first two years waiting for him to stay on the floor. A broken hand in his 2024 Pelicans debut wiped out 17 games, and a torn Achilles shut down his first season after 31 appearances.
He came back late last season, but the minutes restriction kept him to just 14 games. After all that, New Orleans still doesn’t really know what it has.
That uncertainty is why his third year with the Pelicans matters so much. Nobody is asking Murray to suddenly become an All-Star again.
What the team needs is simpler and, in some ways, more important: 24 to 28 dependable minutes from one of the roster’s few veterans with real playoff experience. Whether he starts or comes off the bench, he has a chance to steady a young group - or make things messier.
Availability has to be the first box he checks. New Orleans handled him carefully after he returned, limiting him to 27.8 minutes per game, and that caution made sense after such a major injury.
But now the Pelicans need more than caution. They need him to hold up through a regular season load and become someone they can pencil in night after night.
He’s played only 45 games across his first two seasons in New Orleans, so simply staying on the court for most of the schedule would count as real progress.
The next piece is defense, where Murray’s reputation was built. He earned NBA All-Defensive Second Team honors in 2018, though that level has been out of reach for years.
New Orleans doesn’t need him to lead the league in steals or rewind the clock. It needs him to bother opposing point guards, fight through screens, close out on shooters, and use his length and athleticism to disrupt passing lanes.
Jamahl Mosley wants a defensive identity, and Murray should be able to set that tone at the point of attack.
Then there’s the ball security problem. Murray tied his career high with 3.4 turnovers per game in his 14 games last season, matching what he posted in his first year with the Pelicans.
He has also had 18 games with at least four turnovers in New Orleans, and the Pelicans are 6-12 in those games. Some rust was expected after such a long rehab, but the team can’t keep giving away possessions from one of its main ballhandlers.
Murray needs to settle the offense, make the easy read, and stop forcing passes that fuel transition chances for the other side.
That matters even more because Jeremiah Fears is the future at point guard. Murray’s role is to fit alongside him, help him grow, and keep things steady when the young guard hits rough patches. Taking better care of the ball would go a long way toward that kind of mentorship.
The shooting has to come around too. Murray hit just 30.6% from three-point range last season, well below his career mark of 33.9%.
This year, he has to be respected enough to keep defenses from packing the paint. That becomes especially important when he shares the floor with Zion Williamson, Derik Queen, or other players who pressure the rim.
If Murray can knock down open catch-and-shoot looks and punish defenders who duck under screens, he’ll fit much better with the Pelicans’ young core. The issue isn’t volume.
It’s reliability.
Murray has never been shy about speaking his mind. He has publicly discussed the circumstances around previous stops and more recently said he did not feel enough support after coming back from his Achilles injury.
That frustration may be real. Recovering from that kind of setback takes a massive physical and emotional toll.
But he also hasn’t been healthy or productive long enough in New Orleans to fully establish himself there, even though Pelicans fans have mostly stayed optimistic about what he can still bring.
The path forward is straightforward: show up every day, defend, take care of the ball, support Fears, and accept whatever role gives the team the best chance to win. That’s also the route to leadership on this roster.
His exits from San Antonio and Atlanta were not exactly smooth, and New Orleans gives him one more chance to reshape the narrative around his career. He can still become a useful veteran for the Pelicans, rebuild his value around the league, and maybe move into a better chapter somewhere else.
Murray is entering his 10th season, and the clock is starting to matter. The question is whether his game ages well or falls apart.
For the Pelicans, that answer could shape everything. If they can count on Dejounte Murray, he might help lift them past expectations.
If they can’t, he could drag the whole plan down with him.
In Other News...
Pelicans Camp Plan Is Set But One Backcourt Decision Still Looms
The Pelicans appear to have their backcourt blueprint in place as training camp opens, with Dejounte Murray projected to handle the starting point guard duties and Jeremiah Fears set to steer the second unit. For New Orleans, that arrangement offers a clearer early-season structure, pairing Murrays steadiness and leadership with a younger guard whose role is built around growth as much as production.
Fears enters camp with a chance to sharpen the parts of his game that will determine how quickly he climbs the rotation, especially as a playmaker and on the defensive end. Murrays job, meanwhile, is to give the group stability from the start, but the bigger question for the Pelicans is how long that setup holds once the games begin and the coaching staff starts sorting out which backcourt combinations can finish nights on the floor. [Read more 🡒]
Herb Jones Could Decide How Stable This Pelicans Season Feels
Herb Jones has already become one of the defining pieces of the Pelicans core, and not just because of what he does on defense. Entering his sixth NBA season in New Orleans after earning All-Defensive First Team honors last year, he gives the roster a rare kind of edge: a wing stopper who can tilt matchups before the offense even gets involved. With his three-year extension set to kick in soon, the Pelicans are looking at a long runway with a player who could stay in place well into the 2030/2031 season.
The bigger question, though, is whether Jones can give the team a steadier presence. He has been available for only about half of the games over the last two seasons, and that has made his value feel more theoretical than constant at times. Training camp gives him a clean start, with health and improved three-point shooting both sitting near the top of his personal checklist, and how well he handles those two areas may say plenty about how stable this Pelicans season can feel. [Read more 🡒]
Zion Williamson Has One Big Reason To Love Pelicans Keeping Saddiq Bey
The Pelicans made an investment in continuity by signing Saddiq Bey to a three-year extension worth more than $55 million, keeping one of last seasons most useful frontcourt pieces in place. Bey gave New Orleans a steady two-way presence and production that fit cleanly alongside Zion Williamson, averaging a career-high 17.7 points and 5.6 rebounds while logging significant minutes with the teams star.
For Williamson, the move matters because it helps preserve a pairing that already showed real value and gives the Pelicans a little more stability around him as they build out the roster. Beys return should keep the frontcourt from feeling quite so fragile, and it leaves New Orleans with a dependable option who can ease some of the burden on Williamson without requiring the offense to change shape. [Read more 🡒]