The agony of losing a core piece due to injury and the confusion surrounding the unknown length of that absence are feelings that have become all too familiar for New Orleans Pelicans followers.
Once again, the Pelicans must prepare for life without one of their most important players after third-year forward Trey Murphy suffered a meniscus injury in his left knee on Tuesday while working out at the team’s practice facility, a team source confirmed. ESPN was the first to report the news.
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As if losing a player like Murphy wasn’t challenging enough, the timing of this injury makes things even more complicated for the Pelicans, and Murphy himself, as they prepare for what comes next.
The severity of Murphy’s injury isn’t immediately apparent. There will be a clearer picture of his recovery process once the swelling goes down in his knee and doctors evaluate how much damage was done to the meniscus.
If the damage is minimal, the recovery time for a meniscus tear is usually around six to eight weeks. Pelicans forward Larry Nance Jr. underwent right knee meniscus surgery shortly after being traded to the Pelicans in February 2022, which sidelined him for a little more than six weeks. Once he was healthy, Nance became an essential role player as New Orleans fought to earn a spot in the postseason. If the damage in Murphy’s knee is severe, it will require a more extensive surgery, which would likely keep him out for the first few months of the regular season.
Losing Murphy for an extensive period would be a devastating blow for the Pelicans as they enter another season with high expectations for a potential run in the Western Conference, led by Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram. The two oft-injured stars have dealt with various issues that have sidelined them for a whopping 199 combined games over the past two seasons. Their absences have played a significant part in the Pelicans’ inability to win at a high level despite building a roster with several talented young complementary pieces in Murphy, Herb Jones, Jose Alvarado and Dyson Daniels.
With Ingram and Williamson sidelined so often, other players have received opportunities to step in and play expanded roles for large chunks of the past two seasons. No Pelican has benefitted more from those than Murphy.
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After struggling with the speed and physicality of the NBA for much of his rookie season, in 2021-22, Murphy came back in his second year and showed tremendous growth. He started 65 games and averaged 14.5 points while shooting 48 percent from the field, 41 percent from 3 and 91 percent from the free-throw line.
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The 23-year-old, first-round pick from the University of Virginia lived up to his reputation as a deadly outside shooter but also developed the rest of his offensive game, becoming one of the league’s most efficient weapons. In his second season as a pro, Murphy became the seventh player in league history to shoot 60 percent on 2-pointers and 40 percent on 3-pointers while tallying at least 100 makes in each category.
His confidence reached a new level during the second half of the season as his role in the offense grew and shots continued to fall. After the All-Star break, Murphy’s scoring average jumped to 18.4 points, and he made 42.2 percent of his eight 3-point attempts per game. Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry were the only players who made more 3-pointers than Murphy after the All-Star break.
Along with his stellar outside shooting, Murphy is a terrific scorer in transition who attacks the basket with patience and explosive athleticism. As more teams tried to run him off the 3-point line, he increasingly made them pay with some of his patented poster dunks. After last year’s All-Star break, only three players — Memphis’ Desmond Bane, Boston’s Jaylen Brown and former Houston Rockets wing Kenyon Martin Jr. — had more fast-break points than Murphy.
Murphy’s improvement was so drastic that one can imagine him nabbing a future All-Star bid if he continues to develop physically and mentally.
TRIGGA TREY POSTER!!! 😤@PelicansNBA | #Pelicans |📺:BSNO pic.twitter.com/jVTerf0BMR
— Bally Sports New Orleans (@BallySportsNO) March 9, 2023
While Murphy’s ceiling may still be up for debate, his fit next to Williamson and Ingram, the Pelicans’ franchise pillars, couldn’t be any more ideal. Murphy brings the size, defensive versatility and floor-spacing capabilities that can help make the game much easier for the Pels’ offensive stars.
That makes his potential absence even more devastating for an offense still figuring out how to best use Williamson, Ingram and CJ McCollum when the trio shares the floor. Williamson and Ingram, in particular, need teammates on the floor who can punish defenses for crowding them with multiple bodies. Even with Murphy drilling 202 3-pointers last season, New Orleans finished the season 23rd in 3-pointers made and 29th in 3-pointers attempted. Outside of Murphy, McCollum (211) was the only player on the roster to reach 100-plus 3-pointers made last season. Alvarado was third on the team with 83 despite missing 21 games himself.
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If Murphy isn’t there to give the stars breathing room because he’s sidelined for an extended period, the Pelicans don’t have a lot of other options on the roster who can step into that role. I’d expect Naji Marshall and Daniels to pick up most of Murphy’s minutes because of their defensive contributions and their abilities to operate as alternate ballhandlers to the stars. But most opponents would happily allow either to jack up shots from long distance rather than giving space to Williamson or Ingram to attack in half-court situations.
The Pelicans could use 2023 first-round pick Jordan Hawkins to improve their spacing. However, the University of Connecticut sharpshooter’s limitations on defense and as a ballhandler could prevent him from staying on the floor in certain lineups.
At a minimum, McCollum’s 3-point shooting, which suffered down the stretch of last season as he played through a thumb injury, will be even more critical. Murphy’s transition scoring also will be sorely missed for an offense that needs all the easy looks it can get as the Pelicans work out their half-court offensive chemistry early in the season.
While the challenge of Murphy’s absence will be difficult to overcome on the court, it also will pass even more attention onto a medical staff that has often been under the spotlight with so many injuries to crucial players. But it’s not just the injuries themselves that have yielded so much frustration from the Pelicans fan base. Some of the biggest criticisms have centered around how long it has taken some of those players to return from injuries that were not supposed to drag on as long as they did.
Regardless of Murphy’s recovery journey, the Pelicans must show they can better communicate what’s going on with his injury to the public and reassure fans they are going through the correct processes to ensure Murphy’s knee issues don’t recur. Losing Murphy is painful enough for fans, even if he only misses a few weeks in training camp. But it’ll be even more painful for fans if the medical staff can’t get through Murphy’s rehab process without any hiccups or setbacks.
Training camp is still a month away. Yet as the Pelicans head into another pivotal season, they are already being tested in a major way, on and off the court.
(Top photo: Layne Murdoch Jr. / NBAE via Getty Images)
