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By Alex Kirschenbaum
Contributing Entertainment Writer
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The New Orleans Pelicans, who have often been snake-bitten by a host of injury issues in recent seasons, couldn't even get through a week of training camp for 2024-25 without yet another ailment.
This time, it's to swingman Trey Murphy III. Per Shams Charania of The Athletic, the 6-foot-8 small forward incurred a right hamstring strain.
Murphy, 24, is slated to be re-evaluated in three weeks, right around the start of the 2024-25 regular season. Being re-evaluated does not mean he'll be ready to go in three weeks, however. Rather, it indicates that a timeline for his return will be clarified at that juncture.
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Last year, Murphy appeared in 57 contests for New Orleans (23 starts), averaging 14.8 points on .443/.380/.815 shooting splits, 4.9 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 0.9 steals, and 0.5 blocks across 29.6 minutes per.
The Pelicans selected Murphy with the No. 17 pick out of Rice University in the 2021 NBA Draft, and he quickly outplayed that standing. Murphy's defense emerged first. A trio of Pelicans rookies in Murphy, tweener forward Herbert Jones — the No. 35 pick that year — and undrafted point guard Jose Alvarado helped bolster the Pelicans' wing defense around All-Stars Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram.
Though New Orleans went just 36-46 under then-first-year head coach Willie Green that season, the team leapfrogged into the playoffs after winning consecutive play-in tournament games against the No. 10-seeded San Antonio Spurs and No. 8-seeded L.A. Clippers in the 2022 postseason.
The Pelicans then put a scare into the Western Conference's No. 1 seed (and defending Finals representative), the Phoenix Suns, pushing Chris Paul, Devin Booker, and co. to a six-game series before ultimately folding.
Murphy had a fairly modest offensive output during that rookie season, averaging 5.4 points on .394/.382/.882 shooting splits, 2.4 rebounds, and 0.6 assists a night, playing 13.9 minutes off the bench. But he finished seventh in Most Improved Player voting the subsequent season, as his scoring blossomed to 14.5 minutes per, while he played in the stead of Williamson as a starter for much of the year.
Last year's vintage of the Pelicans finished with an encouraging 49-33 record, but was briskly swept by another rising young West club, the No. 1-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder, in the first round.
Team general manager David Griffin quickly pivoted this summer, making a massive trade to add former All-Star Atlanta Hawks combo guard Dejounte Murray to the Pelicans' prolific backcourt. Murray will suit up alongside another switchable veteran guard, CJ McCollum.
Read more: Hawks, Pelicans Agree to Blockbuster to Send Dejounte Murray to New Orleans
In a more minor but still critical transaction for cementing New Orleans' future this offseason, the Pelicans opted to extend Alvarado to a fairly low two-year, $9 million deal that will keep him rostered through at least 2025-26. He'll have a team option in 2026-27.
Read more: Pelicans Extend Key Role Player Ahead of Crucial NBA Season
Murphy, like Alvarado, is eligible for a rookie-scale extension until Oct. 21, right around the time his hamstring injury will be reappraised. Jones, meanwhile, hit restricted free agency in the summer of 2023, and already he inked a four-year, $53.8 million deal with the club.
Keep tabs on Newsweek Sports for all things Pelicans.
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