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Rod Walker: Dejounte Murray (personal) now listed as OUT for tonight’s game vs. Grizzlies. This will be third game he hasn’t played since the birth of his son.
Shamit Dua: Dejounte Murray is out again tonight vs the Hawks
Many around the league believe the Pelicans and Murray would like to work together to find a better situation for the veteran guard. Murray has publicly denied that he or his agent requested a trade.
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“(Fears) ain't no pushover; we know that,” Murray laughed. “And we ain't going to let nobody push him over, but we also want him to stay focused, understanding what's going on with the game, the flow of the game. We need him. We cannot do a lot if he is on the sideline. I think that was a big jump of him earning the starting position.”
The New Orleans Pelicans were missing one of their starters in Saturday’s practice. Dejounte Murray, who missed Thursday’s preseason loss to the Miami Heat with a toe contusion, continues to deal with the injury. “We are going to continue to be precautionary about it,” Pelicans’ coach Jamahl Mosley said Saturday. The Pelicans’ next preseason game is Wednesday at the Dallas Mavericks. Mosley, when asked if this is an injury Murray could play through if it was during the regular season, had this to say. “We’re just going to keep evaluating him and how he responds to the treatment we’re giving him,” Mosley said. “So right now, to try to gauge whether it is playing or not playing, we’re 10 days into training camp. So I’ll evaluate that once we start to get into regular season games.”
Pelicans Film Room: "What I can say after my first day when I left the gym... I left very excited... texting and telling my brothers and just my family like now it feels like a place to be... Most importantly I was excited to go back" -- Dejounte Murray on the personnel changes around the building
The other day, you had a tweet about Russell Westbrook retiring. Obviously, as a point guard, one of the greatest ever. You call him the greatest of all time. I'm curious, what was your reaction to his retirement? Why do you think he's the greatest of all time? Dejounte Murray: I wish it could have been better. I just wish he could have had like, a farewell tour where he gets celebrated the way he should, because the person he is is just… he's second to none. His work ethic, his passion for the game. The way he plays the game, that's how the game is supposed to be played. Just extremely hard on both ends of the floor. And no friends allowed until after the game. So I just respect him that much. And when it comes to my opinion of him being the greatest point guard ever… I was blessed to compete against him. And I love Magic Johnson. I love John Stockton and Isaiah Thomas. All them old-school guys, but just who Russ was and what he's done, I think, just on and off the court, you can't do that again; you can't script that.
Dejounte Murray: Once you get in that door, I feel like it's harder to stay in them doors, because the health side, the character side, you get access to all these things and the lifestyle, the real world, and just a bunch of distractions. And when you're in high school, college, you don't really have those distractions and the access to the things you got as a pro. It takes real discipline. And I just keep a balance, keep the main thing the main thing. And for me, it's loving my family, believing in God, and just working for everything I got and want. So it's no difference. Young, old, it doesn't matter. I was just telling my brothers and stuff not too long ago... I'm 29 years old. In the real world, that's young. But coming into the NBA at 18, you look at it like, goddamn.
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Dejounte Murray: Tearing my Achilles was a bad, negative thing, but it's like, how can you turn it into a positive? You could be motivation for other humans, other athletes, for what it takes to get back up. You fall down, you get back up. So for me it was easy, but you obviously got the mental part, where I love basketball, and it really is my life. And it's like that gets taken away temporarily. So that was the challenge in the first month or two, but once I beat that, it was easy from there.
Dejounte Murray: Obviously, the Achilles, I feel like is the harder one, and I'll only say that because when I couldn't do any calf raises, you kind of feel like it's over. You do, I don't even know the number of calf raises you do, like, even to this day I'm doing calf raises today. You see your calf get small, and then you can't do a calf raise in month two, and it's just like, 'Damn, it's over'. And again, it's all mental, right? That's just the process. Once you read up on the Achilles and you learn about the injury and why the injury happens and all these different things, it's like the only thing is to learn and enjoy your process and go through your process. My process was different from a bunch of guys, just like theirs was different from mine. And it's just like, that's for sure the hardest one, because I was hopping everywhere; I'm on a scooter, you can't walk. But at the end of the day, I attacked everything like no other. And I'll continue to do that.
Dejounte Murray: You can't focus on other people. Obviously, you got fans and media and all these things that come with being a professional athlete, or an athlete in general. But the moment you start focusing on whether people are sleeping on you or they're saying great things about you, when you focus on those things, you lose automatically. It's over. Nobody should impact how your day goes or dictate what you're gonna be or anything. For me, it ain't never about proving nobody wrong. It's really just proving myself right. So, of course, I'm human. I got hurt; I tore my Achilles. Like, I think it should be celebrated how hard we work to get back on our feet. When I was watching Dame [Lillard] and Tyrese [Haliburton] and Jayson Tatum's process, as well as mine, it's like, nah, we're human. But that's the thing that comes with being a pro, being in the NBA. It's like you don't get looked at as a human. You're above a human, which is crazy.
Dejounte Murray: GREATEST POINT GUARD EVER!!!! 🖤
