Desmond Bane Trade Still Shaping NBA Market as Trey Murphy Price Emerges
· Yahoo Sports
Last offseason, the Memphis Grizzlies traded homegrown talent Desmond Bane to the Orlando Magic in exchange for a massive return.
The Magic coughed up four unprotected first-round picks, one first-round pick swap and guards Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Cole Anthony to acquire the sharpshooter from Memphis.
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Now, about a year later, it sounds like the deal is still being used as a point of reference in the NBA. A Western Conference executive mentioned the Bane deal while speaking to Heavy Sports about what the New Orleans Pelicans would want if they were to trade away homegrown wing Trey Murphy III.
“I think they’d still hold firm on three first-rounders for him," the executive said of the Pelicans' asking price for Murphy. "They look at the return for Mikal Bridges (five first-rounders) and Bane and they see Murphy in the same category. But those deals, teams are not going to want to do those going forward. So, a good young rotation player and two first-rounders is probably where you land.”
Heavy Sports' Sean Deveney noted that the Pelicans haven't "gotten serious" about moving Murphy yet.
Trey Murphy III's Trade Value
The 26-year-old is certainly a valuable piece. He has shown major growth since coming into the NBA as the No. 17 overall pick in 2021. In each of the last two seasons, that has been especially apparent.
He averaged 21.5 points, 5.7 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game this past season while shooting 47.0% from the field and 37.9% from 3-point range. He produced at a similar level the season prior but improved from an efficiency standpoint in the 2025-26 campaign.
Murphy has yet to make an All-Star Game in the NBA, but the same is true for Bane and Bridges, and that didn't stop them from being traded for massive hauls. It's very likely that the Pelicans would net some strong assets if they were to move on from Murphy at this stage of his career.
That doesn't, however, mean that they'd be able to exactly replicate what those other deals looked like. As the executive noted, teams aren't going to want to make those types of trades moving forward, which gives the Pelicans something to think about.
Pelicans Face Trey Murphy Decision
They have to decide if the value they'd get back in a Murphy trade is worth more than what he'd provide as a long-term piece of their puzzle. Currently, Murphy is under contract through the 2028-29 season.
New Orleans hasn't made the playoffs since the 2023-24 campaign, and it hasn't won a playoff series since 2018. The organization has some solid pieces in place, but it still has a long way to go in order to become truly relevant in the Western Conference.
The Murphy situation will be one to monitor as the league continues to drift through a time in which player movement via trade is everywhere.