At first, Atlanta Hawks star Dejounte Murray wasn’t completely satisfied of leaving San Antonio, as he already developed that love with the staff that helped him develop.

“I wouldn’t say I wanted out,” Murray instructed Andscape’s Marc J. Spears. “I wanted to be there my whole career. I love San Antonio.”

As such, an sincere and heart-to-heart discuss with Gregg Popovich in the end allowed him to find out his desired path, as his expertise could possibly be wasted in San Antonio given the franchise’s trending path to lastly commit in the direction of rebuilding.

“Obviously, there was some little trade rumors and stuff, but it didn’t get real to me and Pop. Pop would see stuff, trade interest in such and such or blah-blah or Spurs looking to trade this guy. Pop don’t get into that, no.

“He wanted to hear it from me. ‘Would you want to be able to go play on a bigger stage? Do you want to stay, or you want to go?’ But he also gave his opinion on if I stay, he doesn’t want me to waste my talent, waste years of not making the playoffs. So, it really came down to that.”

Murray was ultimately shifted by the Spurs to the Hawks final offseason, as the previous acquired a profitable haul that featured three first-round picks.

This season, Murray helps Atlanta along with his 21.2 factors, 6.1 assists, and 5.5 boards.