Basket Ball / Sports

Spurs, Hawks Agree To Trade Involving Dejounte Murray

The San Antonio Spurs and Atlanta Hawks have agreed to a trade centered around Dejounte Murray. There was significant talk in recent NBA trade rumors surrounding a possible trade involving the Spurs and Hawks, but now, there is finally an agreement in place on a deal.

According to ESPN, the Spurs are trading Murray to the Hawks in exchange for Danilo Gallinari and three first-round picks and a future first-round pick swap. There were reports of the asking price being a “Jrue Holiday-type return” and this deal satisfies that asking price.

The specific draft picks the Spurs are receiving from the Hawks include a 2025 first round pick (ATL) , 2027 first round pick (ATL), 2026 swap (ATL) and 2023 protected first round pick (CHA).

Murray, 25, is coming off his first All-Star season and was among the top honorable mentions for one of the guard spots in All-Defensive Team voting. He averaged 21.2 points, 8.3 rebounds, 9.2 assists, and 2.0 steals in what became a breakout campaign. With Murray set to earn just $16.6 million during the 2022-23 season and signed only through the 2023-24 campaign, this offseason could be an ideal time to capitalize on his trade value. The Spurs would have been capped to offering just a starting salary on a contract extension up to 120 percent of his 2023-24 salary ($17.7 million).

The Spurs would have risked Murray entering unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2024 with the possibility of losing him for nothing. By trading him away now, it’s clear they are now on the fast track to sinking toward the bottom of the NBA standings ahead of a loaded 2023 draft class. With skepticism around the league about San Antonio having a franchise player, a rebuild could address that.

The Hawks have sought to add a secondary ball handler since their rough first-round exit caused by the Miami Heat. Trae Young had an abysmal performance with averages of just 15.4 points while averaging more turnovers (6.2) than assists (6.0) in addition to shooting …

Basket Ball / Sports

CJ McCollum leads Pelicans past Spurs in play-in game

CJ McCollum got New Orleans going early and Brandon Ingram took over late to send the Pelicans to Los Angeles for a chance at the final playoff spot.

McCollum scored 27 of his 32 points in the first half to carry the young Pelicans to a 113-103 win over the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday night. New Orleans will face the LA Clippers on Friday night for the eighth playoff seed.

“He was great,” Pelicans coach Willie Green said of McCollum. “He set the tone early. He understood the moment, and it sort of calmed the rest of the guys down. We just got the ball to him and he made play after play, score after score, and then the rest of the guys that just started to feed off CJ.”

Playing in his 57th playoff game, McCollum displayed a calming presence to his younger teammates. Rookies Herb Jones, José Alvarado and Trey Murphy played large chunks of the fourth quarter.

“I was just trying to be locked in and aggressive early,” McCollum said. “The playoffs is a lot of antics, a lot of momentum plays, a lot of back and forth. You’ve got to be stable and mentally locked in to withstand a certain level of (chaos). … There’s going to be a lot of winning in our future.”

McCollum wasn’t alone. Ingram shook foul trouble to add 27 points and center Jonas Valanciunas added 22 points and 14 rebounds as the Pelicans’ stars delivered under pressure of New Orleans’ first postseason game since 2018.

“The three best players for New Orleans all played great, and if that happens, you’re going to lose,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said of his team’s inability to contain McCollum, Ingram and Valanciunas. “We stayed in it and got back in it, but then we made the same mistakes as we did in the first three quarters – non physical defense.”

“We’re just playing for each other,” Valanciunas said of combining for 81 points with McCollum and Ingram. “When things struggle, we need somebody …

Football / News / Sports

DeMar DeRozan stays hot, leads Bulls over Spurs

DeMar DeRozan poured in 40 points and continued his historic scoring run as the Chicago Bulls outlasted the visiting San Antonio Spurs 120-109 on Monday to win their fourth straight game.

The Bulls trailed by six points entering the fourth quarter but then DeRozan took charge, scoring 11 of Chicago’s next 13 points to give the Bulls the lead. The Bulls never trailed again, as DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic dominated the stretch.

San Antonio had two huge turnovers on successive possessions down by four points in the final 1:53 to hamper its comeback attempt.

 

DeRozan has scored 30 or more points in seven consecutive games (improving on a career-high) and established a franchise record with his sixth straight game of at least 35 points, supplanting the mark set by Michael Jordan in the 1996-97 campaign.

 

Vucevic added 25 points and 16 rebounds in the win, with Coby White scoring 24 points and Ayo Dosunmu hitting for 12. Chicago got just 12 points from its bench but shot 52.3 percent from the floor and earned a 58-41 edge on the boards.

 

Lonnie Walker IV led San Antonio with 21 points off the bench. Doug McDermott and Dejounte Murray added 19 points each – Murray also had 11 assists — and Keldon Johnson and Jakob Poeltl scored 13 apiece for the Spurs.

 

The Bulls led 29-27 after a back-and-forth first period as Vucevic (12 points) and White (11) combined for all but six of Chicago’s points.

 

San Antonio swept to the front at 34-29 by scoring the first five points of the second period, after which there were nine lead changes and five tied scores before DeRozan’s two free throws with 48.1 seconds left in the quarter gave the Bulls a 59-57 advantage at the break.

 

White led all scorers with 16 points in the half with DeRozan and Vucevic adding 15 each for Chicago over the first 24 minutes of play. McDermott paced the Spurs with 14 points while Walker IV had 11 and Murray …

Basket Ball / Sports

The Spurs always had an answer in wire-to-wire victory over the Nuggets

With the San Antonio Spurs in the middle of a FIGASENI, this was one of the few times this week that they would not be at a rest disadvantage, as they took on a Denver Nuggets team that is not only missing two starters in Michael Porter, Jr. and Jamal Murray (among others), but they are also on the sixth game of a seven-game road trip AND coming off an overtime victory in New Orleans from the night before.

As a result, the Spurs had a chance to take advantage and start a new winning streak, and they did just that. While it wasn’t easy — Denver still has reigning MVP Nikola Jokic, and Aaron Gordon had himself a game — the Spurs led wire-to-wire and had a response every time the Nuggets threatened to take the lead.

It all started with the Spurs continuing their trend of starting strong by hitting 8 of their first 12 shots to get out to a 22-12 lead that they would never relinquish. The Nuggets were able to take advantage in the fast break with some long outlet passes to keep things close, but the Spurs kept attacking. They got nine extra points off seven offensive rebounds in the first quarter alone and led 37-29 to start the second.

The Spurs kept piling it with a 17-5 run that spanned across the first and second quarters. Devin Vassell returned from injury and exploded onto the scene on both ends of the court (literally), and the Spurs soon found themselves up 60-42 midway through the quarter. However, the Nuggets finally started getting some threes to fall while the Spurs had one of their cold spells, cutting the lead to four on a 16-4 run. Mike Malone then broke out the Hack-a-Poeltl on Jakob Poeltl, and he missed both free throws before quickly being pulled due picking up his 3rd foul. Jokic able to take advantage of his absence for a few easy points, but again, the Spurs responded at the end of the half …