The New Orleans Pelicans haven't been the best all season, but they have found a little life the past few weeks since the return of Dejounte Murray. He has made things easier for the Pelicans with his play and is another scoring option they need. What's even better is that he can get as close as he needs to, and he's not afraid to take the shot.
That's what happened in their latest game against the Toronto Raptors, where the Pelicans were looking to shut them out. Murray had the ball and Jamal Sheed was protecting him. He hit some moves on Sheed which caused him to fall to the floor and Murray hit a shot.
The end of that sequence was something like this.
This picture of Dejounte Murray after taking down Jamal Sheed 🥶 https://t.co/VC7K7sxhgg pic.twitter.com/YWGanOLzEK
- ClutchPoints (@clutchpoints) 12 March 2026
It wasn't a great moment for Shead, but Murray was in the news at least for the next minute. At that time, it was clear that the Pelicans missed him for most of the season.
After the game, Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic spoke about the incident that occurred after the shot.
Rajakovic said, "I don't give it too much attention there. The guys are competitive. What they did there was probably off the board. I got to see it on film. But I don't want to make too much of it."
That moment may stick around, but at some point, people will forget about it until something else like it happens.
In seven games this season, Murray is averaging 17.6 points, 5.3 rebounds and 5.4 assists. The Pelicans have been near the bottom of the Western Conference for most of the season, but if Murray continues to play there is a chance they will finish the year strong.
They have no reason to tank like other teams in the lower tier because they don't have their picks in this year's draft.
