Hawks Rejected 1 Lakers Player In Proposed Dejounte Murray Trade

The Los Angeles Lakers expressed interest in acquiring Dejounte Murray last season.

Almost everyone was on board with the move, but one key party on L.A.’s side decided to veto it.

As it turns out, even if he hadn’t, Atlanta wasn’t going to do the trade anyway.

Why? Because of one particular player that the Lakers were offering didn’t align with what they wanted back.

Brian Windhorst broke down what happened between Los Angeles and Atlanta last season during a recent appearance on his podcast.

“The Hawks went down this road last year with the Lakers. There was a time where there was a lot of momentum, at least on the Lakers’ side, where they thought they had a great chance to get Dejounte Murray,” Windhorst said.

“At the end of the day, D’Angelo Russell being in that deal, and I don’t know if it was they were going to have a third team or whatever, but the Hawks weren’t down with that.”

The Lakers’ current plan for Russell isn’t great. He is stuck in an uncomfortable position where he is simultaneously their third or fourth best player, but also a guy they desperately want to offload.

Will Russell still be on the Lakers come this time next year? Time will tell.

Carlos Garcia

A longtime Sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB Games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.