Dejounte Murray

Former Spurs point guard Dejounte Murray has drawn the ire of fans in San Antonio for comments some believe to be critical of the team.

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Former San Antonio Spurs guard Dejounte Murray appeared on the All The Smoke podcast, airing several grievances from his time in SA.

He was well within his rights as a player and a person to choose where he finished his time in the NBA. He even went as far as to say that the Spurs "saved his life." Apparently, the mere thought that the Spurs would even entertain bringing him in to put pressure on their young rookie and gauge how he responded still seems to be aggravating Murray today. But the clip that is making the rounds is his unfiltered criticism of the Spurs, Tony Parker, and what he had to go through during his early years in San Antonio. He closes the clip by taking a shot at Parker for not staying in San Antonio after Murray took over as the starter and mentoring him "the way he should have." The whole hour and forty-minute episode covers a lot, but the most relevant parts for Spurs fans came when Murray had things to say about his time in San Antonio.

“They bring in a point guard from Argentina who's close with Manu and they play him in front of me. And I'm behind Tony and Patty, but they playing these mind ...

He would have stayed right there”, he said on Tony Parker. He wouldn’t have gone to Charlotte. “I feel like they drafted me but me coming from the hood, smoking, and drinking, in articles about fighting was ruining their reputation and what they stand for as the Spurs. But they never said that”, he added. This is too much, what they put me through I don’t understand”, he said referring to Nicolas Laprovittola. I think that’s what they thought.

Atlanta Hawks guard Dejounte Murray has called out his former teammate and NBA champion Tony Parker, for not being a good mentor for young players.

"I know the type of person Tony is. "[Gregg Popovich] brought us into the office, he told Tony. "I started growing, first year goes by, thrown into the fire in the playoffs versus the Rockets.

“Mind you I'm behind Tony [Parker], Patty [Mills]. But they playing these mind games. They trying to see if they can break you. Not knowing they can't break me.

I’m thankful for the Championship, but I’m glad I was able to leave San Antonio and be the best player I could be, ’cause I wouldn’t have been that had I stayed there.” Take a look around the league and look at starting fives. I got a ring out of the situation and I bounced,” So, I have all the respect for Pop for giving me that opportunity but San Antonio was not a place for me. Stak and Murray’s comments seem to suggest so. His EPM was in the 94th percentile at +3.4. [Gregg Popovich](https://theshadowleague.com/gregg-popovich-leads-his-peers-in-addressing-american-racism/) is a former military guy and he uses all sorts of techniques to motivate. In the 2020-21 season he had his first net positive in EPM at +1.8. Defensively he started to show signs, and made an All-Defensive team in 2018, but he was inefficient as a scorer and not a very good playmaker. Last season the game really slowed down for Murray and everything clicked. It’s fair to point out this is one person’s side of the story and his perspective on what went on. The next couple years as Kawhi suffered an injury and was ultimately traded, the team started trending downward.

Atlanta Hawks star Dejounte Murray's recent comments ruffled some feathers but a former teammate is coming to his defense.

Instead, it seems Murray has gone out of his way to be the opposite kind of teammate. This seems to simply be a player telling his side of the story which Parker is also free to do if he so chooses. [Tre Jones](https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/j/jonestr01.html?utm_medium=linker&utm_source=soaringdownsouth.com&utm_campaign=2023-01-20_bbr) said per Jeff McDonald of the [San Antonio Express-News](https://twitter.com/JMcDonald_SAEN/status/1616500536207118336). “He wouldn’t have went to Charlotte. “He continues to reach out to all of us a lot. However, their margin for error remains slim with just a half-game lead over the ninth-seeded Indiana Pacers and the outside noise continues to signal troubled waters.