In third grade, Trey Murphy was given an assignment. Murphy and his classmates were learning Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. They were asked to express their own ambitions.
On a 3-by-5-inch index card, Murphy wrote that he wanted to drive a black Lamborghini with red stripes. He wrote that he wanted to attend the University of North Carolina and marry a beautiful, educated woman. And he wrote that he wanted to play in the NBA.
Albeda Murphy told her only child that was unlikely. She knew the numbers. There were 15 spots on each of the 30 NBA teams. This meant there was room for 450 players each year.
“He would talk about the NBA in his lifetime,” Albeda Murphy said. “He believed even when we did not believe.”
Trey Murphy wrote that he wanted to play in the NBA as a third year. (Photo courtesy of Albeda Murphy)
Murphy’s dream came true when the Pelicans drafted him with the 17th pick in 2021. Now in his second season, Murphy is thriving as a knockdown shooter who is learning to take advantage of his physical gifts.
Murphy was 5-foot-8 when he started high school. When Rice started recruiting him, he was 6-4 and 160 pounds. He is now listed at 6-9.
“I would say 6-9 and a half,” Murphy said over the summer. “But who is going to say 6-9 and a half? So 6-10.
In Friday’s win over the San Antonio Spurs, Murphy knocked down five 3-pointers. He hit three 3s in 95 seconds in the fourth quarter to help clinch the New Orleans Pelicans’ third straight win.
While Brandon Ingram was sidelined with a toe bruise, Murphy started the last three games. In that streak, he’s averaging 21 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.7 steals and 1 block, and is shooting 41.9 percent from behind the arc on more than 10 attempts per game.
“I’ll be watching Trey all the time in huddle or when we go out on the court like, ‘I’ll find you. Just know,’ said Zion Williamson, who assisted Murphy five times on Friday. “‘It may not look like it . But I will find you.”
Filming has always come naturally to Murphy. Its soaking is a recent development.
Murphy has dunked 20 times in 20 games this season. In the first quarter of Friday’s game, Murphy faked a pump, took two dribbles and launched into a powerful two-handed slam.
“I use every part of my body now,” Murphy said. “There was a time when I started growing up, I was playing smaller than I was because I wasn’t used to being so close to the edge. Now I really feel like I’m enjoying it. »
Murphy spent the first two seasons of his college career at Rice. In freshman year, he began to believe he was good enough to pursue a career as a professional basketball player. He just didn’t know if he would play domestically or internationally.
As a sophomore, Murphy became convinced he was an NBA-caliber player. Murphy had grown as tall as most forwards selected in the first round of the 2020 draft.
“I was watching the guys go out,” Murphy said. “And I was like, ‘I have the same measurables as these guys, and I feel like I can shoot the ball better than a lot of these guys.’ I felt like my time would come.”
Murphy transferred to Virginia before his junior season. The doctors who examined him there told him that his growth plates were still not closed.
Originally, the plan was for Murphy to spend two seasons at Virginia and his first redshirt. But Murphy played straight away. He’s averaging 11.3 points on ultra-efficient splits: 50.3% from the field, 43.3% from 3 and 92.7% from the free-throw line.
Murphy told his parents after his freshman year that he wanted to test the waters of the project. At first, he didn’t hire an agent, which meant he had the option of returning to school for another season. About a month before the draft, Murphy decided he would stay.
“He would have conversations with his dad behind my back,” Albeda Murphy said. “The two were on the same page about keeping him in the draft. They told me at the very last moment: ‘He won’t be coming back. He will stay in the draft. I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ We weren’t prepared. »
The Murphys watched the draft together in Raleigh, North Carolina. When it was announced that Murphy would become a pelican, Murphy started crying and hugged his parents.
“In my mind, I never said, ‘My son will be part of this one day,’ Albeda Murphy said. “I never believed it until it actually happened.”
