Dejounte Murray drops BOMBSHELL on Pelicans | Joe Dumars needs to fix Pels culture immediately

Dejounte Murray drops BOMBSHELL on Pelicans | Joe Dumars needs to fix Pels culture immediately

dejante Murray drops a bombshell calling his Pelican stint his quote worst experience in the NBA look before draft picks or trades Joe Dumards needs to tackle this internal crisis head on it’s a Thursday episode of Locked on Pelicans let’s go you are Locked On Pelicans your daily New Orleans Pelicans podcast part of the Locked On podcast network your team every day welcome to another edition of Locked On Pelicans the daily podcast covering your favorite team the New Orleans Pelicans and NBA part of the Locked On podcast network your team every day available wherever you get your podcast and available on YouTube i’m your host Pelicans Insider credential member of the media JakeMadison Nola Jake on Twitter here with you on this Thursday and we are going to dive into Dejonte Murray appearing on the Pivot podcast with Ryan Clark breaking down his comments because these are pretty interesting and at times look pretty damning against the New Orleans Pelicans i don’t think it’s as bad as some of the clips that are kind of making the rounds without context are out there but it does give you an idea of a lot of the work that Joe Dumar needs to do so we’re going to dive into all of this in today’s episode of Locked on Pelicans basically are the Pelicans a disaster or not today’s episode of Locked On Pelicans is brought to you by Game Time download the Game Time app create an account and use code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase and of course thank you for making Locked On Pelicans your first listen today and every day we are here Monday through Friday the number one Pelicans podcast covering everything you want to know about this Pelicans team so please subscribe wherever you get your podcast and join over 11,000 Pelicans fans on YouTube as well and you can now watch Locked On Pelicans on the GF Coast Sports and Entertainment Network 7.1 here in New Orleans where you watch your Pelicans games so let’s get into the comment the comments from Dejonte Murray on his recent podcast appearance on the pivot here i’m going to read you you know the one of the biggest quotes that’s making the rounds here is quote “This is my worst experience in the NBA.” End quote and I think it’s important to put context in and around those quotes and we’ll get to that a little bit ne uh a little bit later in the show in the next segment and I do think there’s a few different ways to read some of his comments but I want to start with this you know after listening to the whole podcast and appearance that he had this just completely justifies the Pelicans making the decision to fire David Griffin you know when you hear about DeJonte Murray’s experience last year he was going through a lot and a lot more than we even knew about and he had a lot weighing on him and you feel for him as a person absolutely with what he went through last year and it’s a wonder that he was just able to play basketball in the first place right and then you get into kind of the culture that David Griffin wanted to build you know he preached a lot about family you know those type of things right culture all of that and it makes you question did he back that up you know David Griffin always talked about people and that sort of thing but if someone is going through all of what Dejante Murray was going through last year even if all of the infrastructure is in place for them to kind of help themselves or to have what they need you know and we’ll get more into we’ll get more into the concerning comments in a moment about the training staff and that kind of thing even if all of that stuff is there and these people have everything they need to succeed and I’m not saying that’s what the Pelicans have put in place for everybody are you showing up for your people in the building even with all of that or is it like you got everything we need we’re not here for you or are you showing up for your people your players your staff members all of that and in this my kind of takeaway was Deontay Murray is basically saying the Pelicans weren’t doing that here’s another quote from his interview quote “The way that things are going and where my mental is at it wasn’t just me it was everybody’s mental every player like I hope this brings peace to my brothers i hope you know that everyone I hope you know that everyone uh that everybody gets what they need i hope the organization gets it together cuz you have the talent but it ain’t just the talent you need every dot to connect to have a chance to win.” End quote look clearly for all the talk about what Griff was trying to build and that talk came from him it does not sound like he achieved that and and some of this is losing maybe a lot of this is losing you know every day have heard me say losing is like a disease a cancer it infects every aspect of the team it infects the players it infects the coaches it infects the training staff it infects the season ticket reps look it it probably infected you did you have fun last year did you want to go to games did you actively want to watch games or if you did watch the games were you enjoying them right look it infected me doing five six shows a week on this it’s hard it can be a drag makes you not want to do it when this team’s winning they’re good i get excited to record i’m usually excited to record anyway but there were days during last season like I don’t want to do this right like maybe I just want to quit you know winning is going to help with this obviously but building a culture is important too and how strong is your culture if it fell apart during one losing season that was just more derailed by injuries than anything else right go back to that quote from Dejonte Murray every player it was everybody’s mental like I hope this brings peace to my brothers that’s not great right if your culture can’t handle some adversity here whatever that adversity might be it’s not much of a culture in the first place right that’s why whenever someone says like “Oh you can’t trade that guy away he’s a culture guy.” Then your culture is not that strong if it falls apart when a when one singular player leaves right so when you hear this you know when you hear what he’s saying my biggest takeaway more than anything is the Pelicans did the right thing by firing David Griffin and bringing in Joe Dumars and the first thing Joe Dumar needs to do before drafts before trades before free agency look even before coaches and all that is figuring out this side of things i don’t want to necessarily just say it’s culture because it does also go beyond that in my opinion you know this is more than that it’s also hey you need to get your building in order this needs a comprehensive review from top to bottom about what you’re building and how you’re going to act because for all the culture stuff that David Griffin talked about we shouldn’t be hearing this then if that’s the case and so that’s more important than trades than players look what good is having great players if they’re like I don’t want to show up here and I’m just not motivated or I’m not feeling it because of all the other stuff going on around it what good does having the number one pick in a draft do you if there’s not the infrastructure in place for them to be able to succeed and I don’t think this is a complete this is Deontay Murray disparaging the Pelicans or anything like that you know he is also and said it in this podcast speaking to his his experience he’s not speaking for other people and yes former players have said things about the organization we’ll touch on that in the third segment but those I don’t think are actually that bad but this says Joe Dumar needs to start working on more than just trades in the draft stuff you need to kind of figure out who the right people to have in the building are and if you don’t have those people get those people and build them in because you need a better culture than what they’ve had and the team probably just hasn’t had much of a culture particularly last season and you need one that can handle some adversity can handle rough seasons and Joe Dumar as the straight shooter he is straight talker kind of business-like mentality i think this will help that and it says maybe this was the right hire for the team time will tell so coming up next I want to get into what you could argue is the most concerning part of this but there’s two re ways to read Deonte Murray’s concerns with the training staff and those sorts of things let’s talk about that coming up here next in today’s episode of Locked On Pelicans today’s episode of Locked On Pelicans is brought to you by Lollipop lollipop is a different kind of soda a new kind of soda made for people who love the classic taste of soda but want something that supports their health and with just 2 to 5 g of sugar nine grams of prebiotic fiber in every can Lollipop is reimagining soda in a way that’s good for your gut today I am drinking the crisp apple on like a hot day like this how delicious this one is light like a sparkling apple juice and gummy apple rings blended into one it’s delicious what I’ve been drinking during the show here actually it’s really fantastic you would not believe that this has very little sugar in it sugar in it total sugars are 5 g look a regular Coke is like 40 g if you want those classic soda flavors something refreshing something even sweet that isn’t bad for you you’ve got to give Lollipop a try i love the vintage cola which I drank the other day the crisp apple is really good too i’m going to be breaking into the grape next so get a free can of Lollipop just buy any two cans in store and they’re going to reimburse you for one head to drink.com/lockedonba to claim your free can and find a lollipop near you that’s drinkallipop.com o lip p.com/lockedonba they’re really good you really got to give these a try and thank you for making Locked on Pelicans your first listen today and every day we’re here Monday through Friday the number one Pelicans podcast covering everything you want to know about this Pelicans team so please subscribe wherever you get your podcast and join over 11,000 Pelicans fans on YouTube as well and don’t forget you can also watch us on GF Coast Sports and Entertainment Network for your second listen we got our locked on NBA mock draft for you five-part episode series with the most comprehensive draft analysis from NBA experts college experts and draft experts find the 2025 locked on NBA mockdraft on NBA board and locked on NBA on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast one episode is here on the Locked On Pelicans channel as well so let’s keep talking about DeJonte Murray’s podcast appearance on The Pivot look it it justifies the Pelicans firing David Griffin deciding they just need a new tone being set and a new voice because regardless of what you think about the onc court stuff clearly clearly David Griffin did not build the off-c court stuff that he had talked a lot about now he tried i I believe that more on that in a minute here but ultimately if it was this much of a disaster as it sounds like it was last season you didn’t build it simple as that right and so bringing in Joe Dumar makes a lot of sense and look there’s going to be on Joe Dumar to fix this and that needs to be his first priority but there’s a couple other comments from this interview that I find concerning but I there are two ways to read these and I think we are lacking some of the proper context around it and this is one of the clips that’s making its way around social media and you do need the proper context around it so I urge you to go listen to the whole interview that Dejonte Murray has on the pivot so quote and it was a situation where like seriously like I got all these problems going on not only my mom who by the way suffered a stroke before the season started i broke my hand i recovered my mom had a stroke one of my cousins got killed then my uncle overdosed backto back to back and in the meantime of all of this like I’m not getting what I need in the organization it’s hard for me to get my training table time it’s hard for me to get lifts it’s hard for me to get my own court time end quote so that quote itself not great right like there’s there’s just no getting around that but there is some needed context to put around this and there’s still some questions that we don’t have answers to when it comes to this i don’t think that’s him like torching the organization or anything like that right you know I don’t know if in that quote what he means is he didn’t have access to what he needed like he didn’t have access to onc court time he didn’t have access to training table time for recovery he didn’t have access to the wait room or if it more was just mentally he wasn’t there and it was tough for him to show up to his court time training table time etc or was it just not available to him in any capacity here you know when you understand how these organizations work like usually these players have just 247 access to the facility for kind of whatever they need food gym weights all of that stuff so for him to hear him say like I couldn’t get on the court is a little bit odd to me and I’m not entire we need more information on that before I’m going to come in and be like what the heck are the Pelicans doing this is a disaster and all of that stuff it easily could be very easily to read that of like hey I I just couldn’t bring myself to do it and throughout this interview he talks about the mental struggle that he had last season with just all of those things his mom having a stroke before the season started his mom kind of relapsing a little bit during that stroke or going backwards I should say during that stroke the uncle right and some of the other things that he’s talked about as well his cousin getting killed all of those things are gonna completely wear on you he’s only a human right makes sense for why you know at times he struggled out there on the court even when he was healthy you know and so that’s an entirely different read of the situation than you know the Pelicans don’t have the things that we need and it’s difficult right and hold that thought for a second here you know the Pelicans were renovating their facility this past off season and it dragged into the season and that maybe might might have impact some of this if the weight rooms being redone and you’ve got to limit the amount of people that can be in there at a time if some of the practice courts are getting redone and you don’t have as many as you’d like maybe you don’t have some of that court time in general I have not heard of this being a problem for the Pelicans in the past so I don’t know if this is tied to him coming back from that injury or even before the season started right you know that game one where he then broke his hand you know but coming back the facility wouldn’t have been done then so maybe that’s what he’s referring to or maybe it just is more of a I don’t want to say like a him thing but just you know the mental side of things for it all so there’s there’s different reads on that and we don’t have the proper context to come in and make a declarative definitive statement about that right so that’s important now he did say this and this is something that I do find concerning and does lend itself more to the culture and things and this might be the most damning thing that he said in there quote and he he’s referring to after the Achilles injury the game that happened in January against the Boston Celtics quote “And then what hurt me more about the situation is when I got hurt right there i got up I walked it all went back uh went to the back my girls being told my brother’s being told whatever you need whatever you need uh you need anything whatever you need and I’m sitting in the bed like damn whatever I need after I tear my Achilles right you know and quote that seems to imply that he felt they the team didn’t show up for him until after the injury if they’re like “Whatever you need to recover whatever you need for yourself whatever it might be we we’re here for you and we’ll provide it and we’ll make sure it happens.” Clearly he was not feeling that he got that before which goes to what we talked about in the first segment of you know for all that talk of family of helping people succeed helping bring out the best version of one another that clearly was not going on in the building this past year again some of it might be injuries you know when Deontay Murray came back to the team from that broken hand and was playing the season was over at that point in time right zion was out they were losing things weren’t good more injuries were piling up to Herb Jones and others so you can look at this and just be like “Yeah it was a disaster all around.” And you know he stepped away from the team came back and was still a disaster but clearly he feels something was lacking like without a doubt he feels something was lacking and that’s a valid thing and we got to listen to that sort of thing and if one of your players is feeling that let alone someone new to the organization right like that’s not what you want to do you get one chance to make a first impression and clearly the Pelicans did not make the one that he wanted you know Dejonte Murray went on to say like the roster is good we have talent like we can win but it takes more than just that his line was like “All the dots need to connect.” Which we’ll talk about in the next segment here you know Joe Dumar is going to be tackling all of this he he was brought in to change things not just players but the entire kind of structure this was not someone that was brought in just to kind of keep going as they’ve been going this is someone who’s won an championship as a player as an executive and has been working for the league where he just kind of probably gets things at a greater level being able to kind of have that kind of thousand foot view of the NBA as a whole with people who do that for a living so bringing him in and that knowledge I think is a good pivot from David Griffin you know this is from people I’ve talked to within the building when it comes to Joe Dummar’s is like straight shooter i had one of these conversations this week straight shooter it was very business-like like this is what we need to do to be a championship level team this is what we need to do to take care of our players in the interview with the Times Piku and some of the other interviews that he has done you’ve heard Joe Dumar’s speak about that we need to be there for the players we need to build a first class organization you can talk about culture all you want but if you don’t have straight up the things the players need doesn’t matter does it and so Joe Dumar is being brought in to focus on that that’s easier to start to do than change your roster right then change your coaching staff and hope that makes changes these are more foundational infrastructure level things that the team has been lacking in some capacity again we don’t know what and there’s multiple ways to read that Dejante Murray statement in interview and quotes right hence why I want to spend the whole of today’s show talking about that but clearly clearly at the very least right the very base level whether we have different readings of this or not I think we can all agree that the Pelicans need to do more in this regard and hopefully this is kind of the wakeup call for it and again I don’t think DeJonte Murray is trashing the team i think what he was going through is going to impact his perspective of this franchise absolutely and but at the end of the day right you still need to be better you look at teams like Oklahoma Oklahoma City right they’re known kind of for the first class experience they provide their players the family all of that stuff you need to build a lot of that here too not every team has that some teams are better than others certainly but in a small market there’s no reason not to do that to make sure players want to stay and be here so Joe Dumar is working on not just the players but the entire structure of the organization and look bringing in a guy that’s kind of no nonsense is going to tell you like it is have tough conversations in a way that maybe David Griffin and company wasn’t doing that’s the exact type of thing New Orleans needed and hearing this interview with Deontay Murray as much as it’s like you don’t want to hear things about this like this about the organization it seems they maybe made the correct hire to try and or at least on paper made the right hire in Joe Dumar’s to bring about the changes that you want to see so coming up next let’s talk about connecting the dots right and how you go about doing this and what it means kind of for the team going forward that’s coming up here next in today’s episode of Locked On Pelicans today’s episode of Locked On Pelicans is brought to you by Game Time game Time is my go-to ticketing app whether it’s sports concerts comedy theater Game Time has killer last minute detail uh deals panoramic seat views and no surprise fees if you’re going to a venue you’ve never been to before maybe it’s for a show something like that right you can see the exact view from your seat before you buy so there’s no surprises and their app makes it super easy two taps and you’re done and with the Game Time Guarantee you know you’re getting the best deal if you find a better price in the same row and section for less they’re going to credit you 110% of the difference and look Game Time makes it scoring NFL tickets easy with the upcoming Saints schedule you’re going to find great seats for as low as $100 thanks to exclusive discounts get the best game day upgrade you could possibly get so take the guesswork out of buying tickets with Game Time download the Game Time app create an account and use code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase terms apply again create an account redeem code Loca for $20 off download the Game Time app today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed and thank you for making Locked On Pelicans your first listen today and every day we’re here Monday through Friday the number one Pelicans podcast covering everything you want to know about this Pelicans team so please subscribe wherever you get your podcast join over 11,000 Pelicans fans on YouTube as well and watch us on GF Coast Sports and Entertainment Network for your second listen it’s Locked On Saints with Ross Jackson who’s the MVP of mini camp who has a big off season ahead of them ross Jackson over at the Locked On Saints podcast talking all things black and gold part of the Lockdown podcast network your team every day make them your second listen today so connecting the dots that’s something that Dejonte Murray said earlier it takes more than just talent you got to have the other things in place and clearly he feels things are missing you know and when you hear other players Josh Hart most recently saying not great things about New Orleans and this franchise it does make you concerned are they a bottom one in the league and I I don’t have an answer to that because I don’t know the other situations around the league as as much right josh Hart didn’t say bad things about his time here it was just more his big quote was “I don’t think you’re going to hear anyone get excited about being traded to New Orleans.” You know Dyson Daniels haded some recent comments too but that was more about his lack of development and he put a lot of the blame on himself too it wasn’t just trashing the organization he’s like “Now I’m here and look at how much better I am.” He needed a change of scenery cuz he wouldn’t have gotten where he needed to do so while this DeJonte Murray interview isn’t great certainly I don’t think it’s the most damning thing out there on this team of like oh no this is a dumpster fire or anything like that and frankly even if they were the Pelicans have made a big- time change in Joe Dumar’s to kind of do something different right and look David Griffin tried they brought in a wellrespected name in terms of the coaching staff with Aaron Nelson it didn’t work they moved on from him pivoted had some health success with that but then it fell apart nothing has ever just really clicked this is not something that will get fixed overnight but I would imagine soon you’ll hear more about what I would call behind the scenes changes that Joe Dumars is making as he starts to kind of remake the team and hopefully this can be the type of thing that really pushes the team forward you want players to be like I’m excited to go to New Orleans but even if you had all of this great infrastructure in place and everything you got to win it comes down to this more than anything else if they were winning the just atmosphere around the team would be better as I said in the beginning losing is infectious in a very negative way it’s an infection it’s a cancer it’s a disease it’s going to just reach into every part and drag everything down that’s what losing does you don’t hear about like bad teams being like “We’re so happy.” No that’s not how it goes that wears on you again it wore on you i’d be willing to bet as a fan it wore on me and I get paid to do this right so they they need to win and that I think has something to do with why they are not pivoting to a rebuild there’s there’s re there’s other reasons for it too but if you’re trying to kind of build a new culture and set something new being like “We’re going to lose games on purpose we’re going to trade away all of our good players.” Like that’s not setting the groundwork for that so even if I think maybe they should go through a more a longer rebuild than I think they could and that would lead to long-term success in the future it might make it harder to get there in the first place because you don’t have some of those winning habits you don’t have an organization that people want to be a part of but Joe Joomer’s coming in trying to win kind of going for it I do think is a good idea for trying to kind of establish some of those things and also look there other factors play into this zion probably doesn’t have the value you want look they’d rather get the revenue from winning than not winning right and all of that definitely plays a part in how you determine what your next course of action is going to be so while this isn’t great I don’t think it is the be like the worst thing you know a current player under contract saying not great things about the organization sure it’s not ideal but this is something Joe Dumar probably wants to hear he’s coming in to evaluate everything he wants people to be brutally honest and give the proper feedback and so you’ve got to give credit to Dejante Murray for doing that I think and hopefully this can be a slight wakeup call for the team i don’t think it needs to be like this massive like slap in the face but there’s things they know they need to do so that’s going to do it for this episode of Locked On Pelicans more on the draft tomorrow I’m going to tell you maybe who the Pelicans are going to take that’s coming up in tomorrow’s episode of Locked On Pelicans i’ll see y’all next time

Jake Madison analyzes Dejounte Murray’s scathing comments about his time with the Pelicans, exploring the implications for team culture and infrastructure. The discussion covers David Griffin’s shortcomings, Joe Dumars’ potential impact, and the critical balance between rebuilding and establishing winning habits. Madison examines how these factors might reshape the Pelicans’ future and Zion Williamson’s role in the team’s direction.

Tune in for an unfiltered look at the [Pelicans]’ organizational challenges and the path forward under new leadership.

Join the Locked On Pelicans Insiders: https://joinsubtext.com/lockedonpelicans

Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOPelicans?sid=YouTube

Locked On NBA League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft, WNBA & More
🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNBA

#NewOrleansPelicans #ZionWilliamson #NBA #pelicans

Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!
OLIPOP
Get a free can of OLIPOP! Just buy any two cans in store and they’ll reimburse you for one. Head to drinkolipop.com/LOCKEDONNBA to claim your free can and find OLIPOP near you.

CarGurus
Buy or sell your next car today with CarGurus at CarGurus.com to make sure your big deal is the best deal.

WayFair
Give your home the refresh it needs with Wayfair. Head to Wayfair.com right now. Wayfair. Every style. Every home.

Monarch Money
Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNBA at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnba for 50% off your first year

Gametime
Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.

FanDuel
Right now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.

FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)