The New Orleans Pelicans have reduced their asking price for Trey Murphy III from the equivalent of four first-round picks to three, per Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. That tracks with earlier reporting from Jake Fischer, who described a three-first-rounder threshold for any team hoping to pry the 25-year-old wing out of New Orleans.
The suitor list has been consistent for weeks: the Celtics, flush with draft capital after the Jaylen Brown blockbuster, the Pistons, and the Warriors, whose interest dates to last season’s trade deadline. Golden State’s position is the murkiest. Sam Amick of The Athletic reports the Warriors are not confident in their chances of landing Murphy, and Scotto notes their interest remains unsettled while the franchise weighs its pursuit of LeBron James. A front office cannot chase a 41-year-old legend and a 25-year-old wing with the same war chest.
The price cut is worth reading carefully, because it is not a fire sale. Murphy is coming off the best season of his career — 21.5 points, 5.7 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game on 37.9 percent from three — and three first-round picks is still a premium the league rarely pays for a non-All-Star. What the adjustment signals is that New Orleans has moved from listening to negotiating.
Here is the availability math that should govern this decision, and it is my read rather than anyone’s reporting: Murphy is the rare Pelican whose value is built on games actually played. This roster’s recent history is a ledger of talent discounted by absence, and Murphy has been the exception — durable, productive and still improving. Trading the guy who shows up is how a retool becomes a teardown. If the front office moves him, the return needs to be either a genuine cornerstone or a volume of picks large enough to survive the miss rate that comes with them. Three firsts is the floor for that conversation, not the ceiling.
Nothing is close, by all accounts. But asking prices only move in one direction once they start moving, and the moratorium lifting Monday opens the window for teams to act on it.
