Getty Julius Randle #30 of the New York Knicks reacts as Atlanta Hawks guard Dejounte Murray #5 looks on.
New York Knicks‘ old rival Los Angeles Lakers loom as their biggest threat in their pursuit of Atlanta Hawks’ two-way guard Dejounte Murray.
The Athletic’s Shams Charania floated Murray as a potential Lakers target a few days after Hoopshype’s Michael Scotto reported about the Knicks expressing exploratory interest in the Hawks guard.
“The Lakers front office has shown they will do their due diligence. We’ve talked about Zach LaVine for weeks as a player that they’re going to express interest in. … One more player to keep an eye on, I’m told, a potential target for Lakers is Hawks guard Dejounte Murray,” Charania said on FanDuel TV’s “Run It Back” show.
“One more player to keep an eye on I’m told, a potential target for the Lakers, Hawks guard Dejounte Murray.”
@ShamsCharania on potential trade targets for the Lakers.
Lakers-Knicks Tug-of-War
After their championship rivalry in the early 70s, the Knicks and Lakers could find themselves again in a tug-of-war, this time for Murray’s services.
Murray, like the Lakers’ other target Zach LaVine, is under Klutch Sports’ Rich Paul, who is LeBron James’ childhood friend and business associate.
This gives the Lakers the upper hand.
However, the Knicks have a deeper draft capital (seven tradable first-round picks) than the Lakers, who can only trade one first-round selection (2029 or 2030) in an in-season trade.
Murray is on a much cheaper contract than LaVine’s $215 million, five-year max extension which also turned off the Knicks.
On top of that, Murray is the better defender, which makes him a better fit next to Jalen Brunson in the Knicks backcourt. So it makes more sense for them to pursue him once more after the Hawks beat them to the draw with a godfather offer (3 first-round picks and a pick swap) to the San Antonio Spurs in the same summer they signed Brunson.
Knicks-Klutch Sports ‘Cold War’
According to SNY’s Ian Begley, a potential roadblock for the Knicks to land Murray is the “cold war between Leon Rose and Klutch Sports’ CEO Rich Paul.
“I’m told that Paul remains reluctant to do business with the Knicks, who are led by team president Leon Rose and executive vice president William Wesley. Rose was a top agent at CAA before he took over the Knicks; Wesley was a consultant for the agency before he joined Rose in New York,” Begley wrote.
Paul was Rose’s understudy at CAA but he left in 2012 bringing LeBron James with him which signaled the rise of Klutch Sports in the NBA.
“The Hawks, obviously, can trade Murray — or any other player — to the Knicks or any other organization if they see fit. But if the Hawks decided to trade Murray, they would almost assuredly work closely with Paul and Klutch to find a suitable destination. That’s often how things work in the NBA,” Begley added.
No current Knicks players are represented by Klutch Sports. Only three former and current Klutch Sports clients have been with the Knicks since Rose became the team president.
Mitchell Robinson dropped Klutch Sports in 2020 during Rose’s first season at the helm. Former Knicks Nerlens Noel also dropped Paul and his agency in a messy legal dispute that was only settled earlier this year.
Cam Reddish, who did not see eye to eye with coach Tom Thibodeau during his bitter short stint with the Knicks, was the last Klutch Sports client to be on the team.