New Blockbuster Three-Team Trade Idea Sends Keegan Murray to Denver, Hawks Get Intriguing Wing Prospect

Although it's always difficult to predict exactly how the offseason will affect the upcoming NBA season, it seems clear that the Eastern Conference is going to be up for grabs. The Indiana Pacers won the conference last year in one of the most surprising championship runs in recent memory, but they are going to be without Tyrese Haliburton for the year. The Boston Celtics have always been a force in the Eastern Conference, but Jayson Tatum went down with an Achilles injury in the second round and will miss the upcoming season. The Bucks made a big move to add Myles Turner, but they had to cut Damian Lillard to do it. In short, the only three teams that seem to be locks for postseason returns are the New York Knicks, Orlando Magic and the Cleveland Cavaliers. That leaves an opportunity for several teams to take advantage.

The Atlanta Hawks are certainly doing their best to seize that opportunity. After trading for Celtics big man Kristaps Porzingis and drafting Georgia power forward Asa Newell, Atlanta reached a pair of huge free agent signings. The Hawks signed a marquee free agent in Wolves guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker to a four-year, $62 million deal in a sign and trade that sent a 2027 2nd-round pick (via CLE) to the Wolves. Then, the Hawks signed free agent guard Luke Kennard to a one-year, $11 million deal. They also got an unprotected first-round pick from the New Orleans Pelicans in a draft-night trade. Given the massive injuries in the Eastern Conference next season, it seems that the Atlanta Hawks are going for it and making moves to put themselves in position to contend. One area they could still use some depth is at small forward or another ball-handler.

The Denver Nuggets are always in contention as long as they have Nikola Jokic at center and the team seems to be making aggresive moves in order to give arguably the best player in the world a chance at a second ring. They traded away longtime starter Michael Porter Jr for Cam Johnson, added a critical reserve from their 2023 championship squad in Bruce Brown and supplemented their second unit with backup center Jonas Valanciunas and shooting guard Tim Hardaway Jr. On paper, the Nuggets are a more talented and deeper roster than the one that took the eventual NBA champions to seven games. That's a terrifying proposition for the rest of the Western Conference. However, it's worth considering whether they should go all-in on the 2025-26 season and add another starter-caliber player that can alleviate some of their outside shooting concerns.

One team that might be able to grant them that player is the Sacramento Kings. Denver and Sacramento already made one notable deal this offseason by sending Valanciunas from the Kings to the Nuggets. However, there has been some discussion over whether versatile forward Keegan Murray could be on the move if Sacramento was to get the right offer. He's due for a new extension and seems to have topped out as a solid starter without true All-Star upside. Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee had this to say about the possiblity of Sacramento moving on from Murray:

"The Kings would be reluctant to part with either Keegan Murray or Keon Ellis, who are both generating strong interest around the NBA"

Anderson clarified his remarks by saying this:

"To my knowledge, no one is completely off limits."

It can be reasonably interpreted that the Kings aren't actively shopping Murray, but could be enticed to send him out if they recieved the right offer. Denver doesn't have a ton of first-round draft pick capital, but they have their top seven players locked in and four first-round picks in 2026, 2028, 2030 and 2031 that could be swapped. Considering Jokic is fully in his prime and they were able to take OKC to seven games this summer, it wouldn't be very surprising if Denver represented the Western Conference in the 2025-26 Finals. Furthermore, they likely won't have to worry about facing either of the past two teams to win the East due to injuries. 2025-26 may be Denver's best opportunity to win the title for some time, especially given that the rise of Victor Wembanyama is also on the horizon and OKC's core is poised to get better with each successive season.

So how about a trade where each of these teams tries to fill a need?

It should be noted that this is just a speculative and fun exercise to see what kind of moves can be made, not what I think the Hawks or any other teams should do or will do. That is all.

Atlanta Hawks Receive: Julian Strawther

Denver Nuggets Receive: Keegan Murray, Vit Krejci

Sacramento Kings Receive: Zeke Nnaji, Peyton Watson, 2026 1st-round pick swap (via DEN), 2030 1st-round pick swap (via DEN), 2031 1st-round pick swap (via DEN)

Why the Hawks would do this deal: Atlanta is quietly assembling a talented, young core of wing talent and Strawther would fit with that vision. At 6'7, he can easily fill in as SF depth and he showed signs of improvement in his sophomore season. After being a complete liability as a shooter in his rookie season, he became a respectable wing shooter at 34.9% on 4.1 attempts per game. He also shot 82.2% from the line albeit on limited FT volume and even had a massive performance in an elimination Game 6 for Denver, pouring in 15 points off the bench as a major contributor towards the Nuggets' second half run to force a Game 7.

Why the Hawks would not do this deal: Despite his size, Strawther is still a liability on defense and he's an easy target for any offense. Atlanta's perimeter defense should be massively improved this season with the addition of Nickeil Alexander-Walker, but there's no denying that the Hawks would like to avoid signing players who can't hold up on the perimeter. They already signed a questionable defender in Luke Kennard.

Why the Nuggets would do this deal: Although he hasn't made an All-Star team, Murray fits into the archetype of player that routinely shows up on championship-caliber teams. He doesn't consistently play at the level of elite perimeter defenders like Alex Caruso, Amen Thompson or Jalen Williams, but the Sacramento wing is one of the only players that finished 85th percentile or better in both rim protection and perimeter isolation defense per BBall Index. Murray also shot 41% from deep on 6.3 attempts per game as a rookie, so he clearly has the shooting talent to help Denver's spacing. Add that to the fact that his acquisition would actually drop Denver below the luxury tax and free up some long-term cap space by moving on from Zeke Nnaji. This is a deal without any clear downsides for Denver in 2025-26. Despite being 6'8 and listed as a wing, Krejci can function as a point guard, finishing with a good AST% of 17.5% and a career-low TOV% of 13.8% despite tying his career-high USG% of 12.9%. He remained effective in limited doses as a scorer, shooting 43.7% from deep on 3.6 attempts per game and a staggering 57% on midrange shots this season. While his defense is his biggest question mark, he's still had solid games on that end against players like Jayson Tatum, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Kyrie Irving. He'd be a nice second-unit addition for Denver in their pursuit of a title.

Only 5 players finished 85th percentile or higher in Rim Protection and Perimeter Isolation Defense

1. Alex Caruso
2. Amen Thompson
3. Jalen Williams
4. Keegan Murray
5. Ausar Thompson
— BBall Index (@The_BBall_Index) April 19, 2025

Why the Nuggets would not do this deal: While this move would boost Denver's odds of winning a title in 2025-26, it limits their long-term flexibility. Murray is on a team option for 2025-26, but he'll want a new contract and there's a good chance Denver just loses him to the free agent market next season. They also don't have a ton of cap space to pay him - they are already tied up in extensions for Jokic, Gordon and Murray while also needing to plan for a Christian Braun extension. The finances of keeping this core together and still staying healthy from a salary cap perspective become very, very complex.

Why the Kings would do this deal: By the time 2030 and 2031 roll around, Jokic will be 35 and 36 years old respectively. It's highly unlikely Jamal Murray will still be on the team given his injury history, shaky regular season performance and expensive contract. Aaron Gordon will also be 35 and likely in a reduced role given his physical style of play. There's a good chance Sacramento could be swapping up for top-five picks in the draft by that point and they still have enough time to bottom out and rebuild before 2030. Their core of Domantas Sabonis, Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan clearly isn't enough to be competitive in the West. Sacramento has all of its draft picks for the foreseeable future and they should make the pivot into a true rebuild that really started once they traded De'Aaron Fox. Building around a young defense of Nique Clifford, Devin Carter and Peyton Watson would be a solid starting point for that rebuild. Watson is one of the best shot-blockers among forwards and he's a tough player to stop in transition.

Why the Kings would not do this deal: They aren't getting any true unprotected first-round picks with this deal and moving on from Murray without recieving any additional draft compensation might be a non-starter for Sacramento. Nnaji's deal is also quietly one of the worst in the NBA and the Kings may not be inclined to take it on.

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