METAIRIE, La. (AP) — Dejounte Murray's imminent return to the New Orleans Pelicans ' lineup comes amid swirling uncertainty that the veteran, former All-Star guard would just as soon ignore.
The front office regime that traded for Murray two summers ago is gone. The 29-year-old Murray has spent the better part of the last 13 months rehabilitating from a ruptured right Achilles tendon. And his rebuilding club sits near the bottom of the Western Conference standings with little hope of postseason play.
“There’s a lot of excuses for a chump to be like, ‘Nah. I ain’t playing,’ And I’m the opposite of that," Murray said after practice on Monday, when he also stated he felt ready to play in Tuesday night's home game against the Golden State Warriors.
“What I’ve been through, what I go through, I use that all to fuel the fire," Murray continued, noting that he's getting paid either way, and could have opted for more rest and recovery by declining to play in the Pelicans' final 24 games.
“But for me, I love the game and I put myself in a position to be able to say I want to go out and play for not only my family and organization, but also the City of New Orleans,” Murray said, pointing his finger in an upward trajectory as he added, "I feel like my best basketball is ahead of me.
“I don’t care about the money. I don’t care about the fame, the lifestyle,” Murray said. “I love this game and I’m going to get everything I can out of this game until it’s over.”
New Orleans acquired Murray before least season in a trade that sent Dyson Daniels, Larry Nance Jr., Cody Zeller, and two first-round picks (2025 and 2027) to Atlanta.
That trade was executed by David Griffin, the Pelicans' former executive vice president of basketball operations, who was fired after last season and replaced by Joe Dumars.
Dumars proceeded to use his first draft pick to select Murray's heir apparent, Jeremiah Fears, who was taken seventh out of Oklahoma.
Murray doesn't sound conflicted about mentoring Fears while simultaneously seeking to re-establish himself as an elite NBA guard.
“He’s the future; he’s going to be great," Murray said of Fears. “My job is to continue to be a pro, work on my game and show him what it looks like. He’s a confident young man, but also he’s got to understand there’s a lot of ups and downs.”
Murray has had his share of those.
After his first two NBA seasons with San Antonio — his game still raw and his long-term pro prospects uncertain — Murray was sidelined by a major right knee injury for all of the 2018-19 season. Three years later, he was an All-Star who averaged 21.1 points, 9.2 assists and 8.3 rebounds per game.
Murray was traded in 2022 to Atlanta, where he averaged better than 20 points per game over two seasons before his trade to New Orleans in June 2024.
In his Pelicans debut, Murray broke his left hand. He returned for 30 more games last season before his Achilles injury on Jan. 31, 2025, against Boston.
Pelicans interim coach James Borrego said it might be premature to “have a conversation” about how Murray might fit the front office's long-term vision for the franchise. And while Borrego sounded inclined to play Murray on Tuesday night, he stopped short of saying for sure that he would.
But Borrego did compliment Murray's commitment to both basketball and the Pelicans.
“It speaks to his character — that he cares,” Borrego said. “I’m not saying that everybody coming off this injury would even play right now. This kid wants to play. He wants to be out there on the floor. He wants to compete. He wants to be out there with his teammates. He wants to win.”
Murray said he has a good relationship with Dumars and his staff, but added, “It doesn’t matter who’s in the front office, who’s the coaching staff. We’ve got to go out on the floor and play hard, and play the right way.”
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Injured New Orleans Pelican Dejounte Murray talks to forward Trey Murphy III (25) during a timeout in the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Sacramento Kings, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Injured New Orleans Pelican Dejounte Murray walks along the bench during a timeout in the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Sacramento Kings, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Candidates are campaigning and voting is underway in some primaries. Yet a national battle to redraw U.S. House districts for partisan advantage is still raging in some states ahead of the November midterm elections.
Final boundaries for congressional voting districts remain uncertain in Missouri, New York and Virginia. Governors in Florida and Maryland are pushing lawmakers to reshape House districts. And that all comes on top of redistricting changes already enacted in California, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas.
Voting districts typically are redrawn once a decade, after each census. But President Donald Trump triggered an unusual round of mid-decade redistricting when he urged Texas Republicans last summer to redraw House districts to give the GOP an edge in the midterm elections. California Democrats reciprocated, and a tit-for-tat redistricting clash soon spread.
So far, Republicans believe they could win nine additional seats in states where they have redrawn congressional districts, while Democrats think they could gain six seats elsewhere because of redistricting. But that presumes past voting patterns hold in November. And that's uncertain, especially since the party in power typically loses seats in the midterms and Trump faces negative approval ratings in polls.
Democrats need to gain just a few seats in November to wrest control of the House from Republicans, which could allow them to obstruct Trump's agenda.
Current map: six Democrats, five Republicans
Proposed map: A new U.S. House map passed by the Democratic-led General Assembly could help Democrats win up to four additional seats. To facilitate that, lawmakers referred a constitutional amendment to the April ballot that would allow mid-decade redistricting.
Challenges: A state judge temporarily blocked the April referendum after ruling that the amendment is invalid because lawmakers violated their own rules while passing it. Democrats are appealing.
Current map: seven Democrats, one Republican
Proposed map: The Democratic-led state House passed a redistricting plan backed by Democratic Gov. Wes Moore that could help Democrats win an additional seat.
Challenges: The Democratic state Senate president has said his chamber won’t move forward with redistricting because of concerns it could backfire on Democrats.
Current map: two Democrats, six Republicans
New map: Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe signed a revised House map into law last fall that could help Republicans win an additional seat.
Challenges: Opponents submitted petition signatures in December to try to force a statewide referendum on the map. The Republican secretary of state has until August to determine whether the petition meets legal muster and has enough signatures. Meanwhile, several lawsuits are challenging the legality of the new districts.
Current map: 19 Democrats, seven Republicans
Proposed map: A judge in January ordered a state commission to draw new boundaries for the only congressional district in New York City represented by a Republican, ruling it unconstitutionally dilutes the votes of Black and Hispanic residents.
Challenges: Republicans lost an appeal in state court but have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the case.
Current map: eight Democrats, 20 Republicans
Proposed map: Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis says he will call a special legislative session in April on congressional redistricting.
Challenges: A lawsuit asserts that DeSantis cannot legally call the special session. The state constitution says districts cannot be drawn with intent to favor or disfavor a political party or incumbent.
Current map: 13 Democrats, 25 Republicans
New map: Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed a revised House map into law last August that could help Republicans win five additional seats.
Challenges: The U.S. Supreme Court in December cleared the way for the new districts to be used in this year’s elections. It put on hold a lower-court ruling that blocked the new map because it was “racially gerrymandered.”
Current map: 43 Democrats, nine Republicans
New map: Voters in November approved revised House districts drawn by the Democratic-led Legislature that could help Democrats win five additional seats.
Challenges: The U.S. Supreme Court in February allowed the new districts to be used in this year’s elections. It denied an appeal from Republicans and the Department of Justice, which claimed the districts impermissibly favor Hispanic voters.
Current map: four Democrats, 10 Republicans
New map: The Republican-led General Assembly gave final approval in October to revised districts that could help Republicans win an additional seat.
Challenges: A federal court panel in November denied a request to block the revised districts from being used in the midterm elections.
Current map: five Democrats, 10 Republicans
New map: A bipartisan panel composed primarily of Republicans voted in October to approve revised House districts that improve Republicans’ chances of winning two additional seats.
Challenges: None. The state constitution required new districts before the 2026 election. Because Republicans had approved the prior maps without sufficient Democratic support, they were required to expire after the 2024 election.
Current map: no Democrats, four Republicans
New map: A judge in November imposed revised House districts that could help Democrats win a seat. The court ruled that lawmakers had circumvented anti-gerrymandering standards passed by voters when adopting the prior map.
Challenges: A federal court panel and the state Supreme Court, in February, each rejected Republican challenges to the judicial map selection.
Current map: two Democrats, four Republicans
Proposal: Republican Gov. Jeff Landry signed legislation in October to delay the state’s primary election from April 18 until May 16. That could give lawmakers extra time to redraw House districts if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns the current districts.
Challenges: The Supreme Court heard arguments in October but has not ruled yet.
Current map: one Democrat, six Republicans
Proposed map: A legislative committee is considering a congressional redistricting plan that could help Republicans win an additional seat.
Challenges: Republican legislative leaders are concerned the plan could backfire, and time is running short before this year's election.
Current map: four Democrats, four Republicans
Proposed map: A proposed ballot initiative would authorize mid-decade redistricting and impose a new House map that could help Democrats win three additional seats.
Challenges: Organizers must gather enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot. If approved by voters, the new districts couldn't be used until the 2028 elections.
Current map: eight Democrats, two Republicans
Proposed map: Democratic lawmakers have proposed a constitutional amendment that would allow mid-decade redistricting.
Challenges: Democrats don’t hold the two-thirds majority needed in both legislative chambers to refer a proposed amendment to the ballot, meaning it is unlikely to be approved before the November election.
Current map: two Democrats, six Republicans
Proposed map: Two lawsuits assert that congressional districts must be redrawn because they unconstitutionally favor Republicans.
Challenges: One case is not scheduled for trial until 2027, and it’s unclear whether the other case can be resolved before the midterm election.
FILE - This photo taken from video shows organizers rallying outside of the Ohio Statehouse to protest gerrymandering and advocate for lawmakers to draw fair maps on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Patrick Aftoora-Orsagos, File)
