The New Orleans Pelicans are staring at a mess, and Wednesday night only made it louder.
After a 145-111 loss to the Brooklyn Nets, Dejounte Murray added another layer to the frustration surrounding the team when he posted a comment on X and then quickly deleted it. The reaction came after criticism piled up around his latest performance, and the optics were ugly no matter how it was meant.
Murray finished with five points in 28 minutes and was a team-worst minus-33 in the blowout at home against a 2-8 Brooklyn team. That stat line only sharpened the spotlight on him, especially with the Pelicans now sitting at 1-8 with Murray this season and 3-0 without him.
The post he deleted came in response to that split, and he answered with 14 laughing emojis along with this message:
Now, there is no point in guessing exactly what he meant with this message, in terms of who is trying to "sabotage" him, but the optics of this post are quite bad no matter what. There has already been plenty of speculation about Murray not being happy on the team, and this will only add fuel to the fire.
Even if the intent was something else, the reaction is already there. The post has been read as another sign of tension, and it only deepens the sense that the gap between Murray and the Pelicans may be getting wider.
New Orleans has been dealing with a culture problem for the past couple of years, and that is what Jamahl Mosley was brought in to fix in that locker room.
On the floor, Murray’s recent stretch hasn’t helped matters either. Over his last four games, he has averaged 7.5 points, 2.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists in 27.3 minutes per night while shooting 33.3/44.4/80.0. That kind of production, paired with the off-court noise, is not helping the Pelicans get back on track.
How New Orleans responds next will matter. It could lead to a real reaction, or it could be met with silence. Either way, it’s now part of the story.
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