Atlanta Hawks General Manager Landry Fields defended the team’s decision to trade Dejounte Murray to the New Orleans Pelicans while poking around the question of whether Trae Young will return to the Hawks next season.
“We have a lot of value in Trae,” said Fields. “We have a lot of value in Dejounte, but this is those moments when we have to make those hard decisions. So from there on we’ll continue to build.” He stated the Hawks were in a “good spot” in terms of who will and won’t be on next season’s roster.
While not giving a definitive answer about Young’s future with the Hawks, Fields acknowledged Murray’s contributions to the team but said the Hawks had to make the move.
“It’s a challenge, said Fields. “Good players like Dejounte don’t come around very often especially available at the time that he was. it was our evaluation and it was a great collaborative effort for all parties involved.”
Fields added that he did not see the original trade in 2022 that brought Murray to the Hawks from the San Antonio Spurs as a failure. He said if he would make the trade again if he had to do it over again.
