The New Orleans Pelicans finally got some good news regarding injured guard Dejounte Murray, including a return window.
The New Orleans Pelicans hit the practice courts again on Thursday after the conclusion of the All-Star break, with an important update on one of the team's most anticipated players.
Rod Walker of NOLA.com asked Pelicans interim coach James Borrego about the status of injured guard Dejounte Murray after that practice. Borrego anticipates a return very soon.
"[Murray] is close. I'd say within the next week, he's back on the floor playing NBA games, which is amazing," said the coach.
This likely means that Murray might not return for this weekend's back-to-back, but could return against the Golden State Warriors. That makes the most sense given that it's a home game. A six-game road trip starts after that.
Murray has not played basketball since January 31, 2025. It's going to be interesting to see just how he performs with just 26 games remaining this year. There isn't much time for him to get up to speed.
This will be an important stretch for both him and the Pelicans, though. There were reports that the team was going to shop Murray at the deadline. No deal materialized, however.
If New Orleans still wants to trade him, they will need him to perform well and make that task a little bit easier. Not many teams will be chomping at the bit to add a 30-year-old guard with over $60 million left on his contract (assuming he takes the final-year player option) who is coming off an Achilles rupture.
His small sample size, even when healthy for the Pelicans last year, wasn't too promising. He averaged 17.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 7.4 assists and two steals per game on 39.3/29.9/82.3 shooting splits.
Perhaps he fits in with what they're doing so well that New Orleans decides to keep him and continue building out the current iteration of the roster.
No matter how it plays out, it will at least add an interesting wrinkle to the home stretch of this losing season.