NBA Trade Rumors: Hawks' Trae Young Untouchable; Dejounte Murray 'Widely Available'

Having won back-to-back games after losing five straight, the Atlanta Hawks' front office has a lot of big decisions to make leading up to the Feb. 8 trade deadline.

Per Yahoo Sports' Jake Fischer, the Hawks have made Trae Young "untouchable" in trade talks, but Dejounte Murray is "widely available" to interested suitors.

The Hawks are in a rough spot right now. Their 141-138 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday was a high-water mark this season, but they are still 10th in the Eastern Conference with a 14-19 record.

Murray hasn't made much of an impact on the defensive end of the court. Atlanta ranks 27th in rating and 28th in points allowed per game after finishing bottom 10 in both categories last season.

Young is certainly one of the biggest reasons the Hawks have been so inept on defense. He was the worst defensive player in the NBA last season by certain metrics.

When the Hawks acquired Murray from the San Antonio Spurs in June 2022, it was with the expectation he would be able to take some of the defensive pressure off Young. He was an All-Star during the 2021-22 season and had previously been named to the All-Defensive second team.

Murray's defensive abilities haven't translated since he joined the Hawks. He's already signed a four-year, $114 million contract extension with Atlanta, though it doesn't kick in until next season.

Another problem for the Hawks is they don't have many future assets to trade because of the Murray trade. They owe the Spurs first-round picks in 2025 and 2027, plus a pick swap in 2026.

It would seem unlikely Atlanta can get back equal value if it trades Murray, but he's good enough to fetch at least one first-round pick. His salary going forward isn't so exorbitant that it would prevent teams from making an aggressive move to acquire him.

Murray is averaging 20.6 points on 46.0 percent shooting, 5.2 assists, 4.6 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game in 33 starts this season.