Trade Buzz Around Pelicans' Trey Murphy Is Already Getting Loud

Even though they weren't the most interesting team on the court this season, the New Orleans Pelicans will be one of the teams to watch in the offseason. They are at an inflection point where the front office has to make a decision on which key players to retain and which ones to let walk. Several players on the roster will attract significant trade interest if they are made available, and there will be teams around the league aggressively pursuing these names.

At the top of that list is Trey Murphy. There were reported suitors at the trade deadline for Murphy, but the Pelicans chose to keep him. While that will likely be their intention heading into the offseason, there may be teams willing to make an offer that the Pels can't refuse.

Pistons Could Emerge As a Trey Murphy Suitor in the Offseason

The Detroit Pistons are the first team to come to mind. In fact, ESPN's Shams Charania named Murphy as the type of player the Pistons are likely to pursue over the summer. In his appearance on Get Up (via Pistons Talk on X), Charania revealed his expectation that the Pistons will go "star hunting" in the offseason, but will focus on younger players who fit their timeline. He then went on to drop Murphy and Lauri Markkanen's names.

Murphy was widely expected to be a Pistons' trade target at the deadline, but nothing materialized. It was partly due to Joe Dumars' unwillingness to break up the team, but it was mostly because Detroit liked the team it had.

Now, things have changed. The Pistons are down 3-2 against the No. 8 seed, Orlando Magic, and don't look like the title contender they thought they were.

This will augur offseason moves to bring them closer to contention. What they need is obvious: more offensive shot creation and shooting to help get the load off Cade Cunningham while providing more spacing for Jalen Duren.

Murphy can certainly bring the shooting as one of the better high-volume, high-accuracy marksmen in the league. His shot creation is a work in progress, but he has made major strides in that area since coming into the NBA.

The Pistons are the perfect trade partner for the Pelicans because they are the right combination of desperate and asset-rich. They have several young players whom they can trade to the Pelicans, like Ron Holland or Daniss Jenkins (assuming they would want to keep Ausar Thompson). They also own all of their first-round picks going forward.

The Pelicans can get a haul back for Murphy and put themselves in an excellent position in their rebuild going forward. Whether Dumars will have interest in doing that, however, remains to be seen.

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