New Orleans Pelicans guard Dejounte Murray nears a long-awaited return after a year-long recovery.
The New Orleans Pelicans have been waiting patiently for injured guard Dejounte Murray to make his return after tearing his Achilles last January. Saturday saw his first progress on the injury report, but it appears the wait will go into next week.
"We're trending the right way, hopefully," said coach James Borrego before Saturday night's game. "I expect him to be there in the next couple of games. Hopefully it's Tuesday night."
January 31 marked a year since the injury, which is the usual target return date from an Achilles injury. It's three weeks later, and he's getting ready to return to action.
"You think we can't wait? He can't wait. I'm excited for him," added Borrego.
It can't have been an easy two seasons for Murray since coming over from the Atlanta Hawks.
The Pelicans traded Dyson Daniels, E.J. Liddell, Larry Nance Jr., Cody Zeller and two first-round picks to the Hawks in exchange for Murray. That certainly signals that the team was hoping for him to play a major role in the future of the franchise. That hasn't happened.
Murray suffered a smaller injury right off the bat in New Orleans, which cost him 17 games at the start of the year. He then played 30 more games before the big injury.
Even before being lost for the season, Murray wasn't playing at an especially high level. He was averaging 17.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 7.4 assists per night on 39.3/29.9/82.3 shooting splits. He was doing a good job of getting involved outside of scoring, but was just not efficient.
It'll be interesting to see what the guard looks like when he can finally return to the court.