In the third grade, Trey Murphy was given a homework assignment. Murphy and his classmates were learning about Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. They were asked to articulate 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 woman who was beautiful and educated. And he wrote that he wanted to play in the NBA.
Albeda Murphy told her only child that it was unlikely. She knew the numbers. There were 15 spots on each of the 30 NBA teams. That meant there was room for 450 players every year.
“He would speak the NBA over his life,” Albeda Murphy said. “He believed even when we didn’t believe.”
Trey Murphy wrote that he wanted to play in the NBA in the third grade. (Photo courtesy of Albeda Murphy)
Murphy’s dream became a reality when the Pelicans drafted him with the 17th pick in 2021. Now in his second season, Murphy is thriving as a knock-down shooter who is learning to take advantage of his physical gifts.
Murphy was 5-foot-8 at the start of high school. By the time 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 during the summer. “But who’s gonna 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 a span of 95 seconds in the fourth quarter, which helped clinch the New Orleans Pelicans’ third straight win.
While Brandon Ingram has been sidelined with a toe contusion, Murphy has started the last three games. In that stretch, he is averaging 21 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.7 steals and 1 block, and he is shooting 41.9% from behind the arc on more than 10 attempts per game.
“I’ll be looking at Trey all the time in the huddle or when we’re out on the court like, ‘I’m going to find you.’ Just know,’ ” said Zion Williamson, who assisted Murphy five times Friday. ” ‘It may not look like it. But I’m going to find you.’ “
Shooting has always come naturally to Murphy. His dunking is a recent development.
Murphy has dunked 20 times in 20 games this season. In the first quarter of Friday’s game, Murphy pump-faked, took two dribbles and spring-boarded into a powerful two-handed slam.
“I’m using every part of my body now,” Murphy said. “There was a time when I first started growing, I was playing smaller than I was because I wasn’t used to being so close to the rim. Now I feel like I’m definitely taking advantage of it.”
Murphy spent the first two seasons of his college career at Rice. As a freshman, he began to believe that he was good enough to pursue a career as a professional basketball player. He just didn’t know if he would play domestically or overseas.
As a sophomore, Murphy became confident that he was an NBA-caliber player. Murphy had grown to be as big as many of the forwards who were taken in the first round of the 2020 draft.
“I was looking at the guys coming out,” Murphy said. “And I was like, ‘I have the same measurables as those 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 ahead of his junior season. The doctors who examined him there told him his growth plates still weren’t closed.
Originally, the plan was for Murphy to spend two seasons at Virginia and his first redshirt. But Murphy played right away. He averaged 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 junior year that he wanted to test the draft waters. 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 was staying in.
“He would have conversations with his father behind my back,” Albeda Murphy said. “The two of them were on the same page about him staying in the draft. They told me at the very last moment, ‘He’s not going to go back. He’s going to stay in the draft.’ I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ We were not 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 a part of that one day,'” Albeda Murphy said. “I never believed that until it actually happened.”
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