Trey Murphy III and the New Orleans Pelicans have agreed to a four-year, $112 million contract extension, Murphy's agents told The Stein Line's Marc Stein on Monday. Murphy, 24, is the second player eligible for a rookie-scale extension to accept a non-max deal this offseason.
Golden State Warriors wing Moses Moody agreed to a three-year, $39 million extension on Sunday, his agent told ESPN's Shams Charania. Before these two deals, the only players to sign rookie extensions were Scottie Barnes of the Toronto Raptors, Cade Cunningham of the Detroit Pistons, Evan Mobley of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Franz Wagner of the Orlando Magic, all of whom signed max contracts.
The deadline for rookie extensions is Monday at 5 p.m. ET.
Last season, Murphy started slowly while recovering from a knee injury, but averaged 18.1 points (on 66.1% true shooting!), 6.2 rebounds and 2.9 assists in 33.9 minutes in his final 24 games. Murphy made 41.7% of his 3-point attempts during that stretch on 8.8 attempts per game.
If Murphy builds on that, this contract will be a massive home run for the Pelicans. He's a 6-foot-8 forward with a sky-high release who shoots deep 3s comfortably, and there aren't a lot of players on the planet who fit that description. Going forward, though, the question is how much -- and when -- New Orleans can reasonably expect his usage and minutes to increase.
Murphy was the Pelicans' sixth man when they were healthy last season, and he seems ready to graduate into a more prominent role, but, after a summer in which they traded for Dejounte Murray and did not trade Brandon Ingram, there is not necessarily space for him to spread his wings. Murphy had an 18.2% usage rate last season.
Murphy is expected to miss the beginning of the 2024-25 due to a hamstring strain suffered in training camp.
"Obviously, starting the season again hurts me a lot, Murphy told reporters earlier this month. "And just trying to do everything I can, summer-wise, to be prepared for a season, then having something like that really sucks. But I'm just looking at it in perspective. It could be a lot worse. The good thing it it's an NBA season -- I'll be there for the majority of it."
Other players eligible for rookie extensions include the Houston Rockets' Alperen Sengun and Jalen Green, the Magic's Jalen Suggs, the Warriors' Jonathan Kuminga, the Atlanta Hawks' Jalen Johnson, the Chicago Bulls' Josh Giddey, the Washington Wizards' Corey Kispert and the Brooklyn Nets' Cam Thomas, among others.
