Dejounte Murray ruptures Achilles tendon in Pelicans loss

New Orleans Pelicans guard Dejounte Murray suffered a season-ending ruptured right Achilles tendon during Friday night’s 118-116 loss to the Boston Celtics.

Murray drove into the lane and took a shot, then chased his miss. But he fell to the court and grabbed at the area near his right foot. When he got up, he hobbled toward the Pelicans bench.

He was quickly ruled out with what the team said was an injury to his lower right leg.

“Extremely difficult, when you see a guy that means so much to our team and puts the work in go down like that,” Pelicans coach Willie Green said after the game.

The injury-riddled Pelicans were already playing without Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram and Herb Jones as they fell to 12-37. Ingram, Williamson and Murray did not share the floor once this season.

“Those are the challenges that we’ve been going through pretty much all season,” Green said.

Murray, who missed 17 games earlier this season with a broken hand, is averaging 17.9 points per game and led the team in assists (7.4) and steals (2.0). He had four straight games with at least 20 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists, tied for the longest streak of his career and the longest by a Pelicans player since Ingram in 2022.

New Orleans entered Friday averaging 114.0 points in 30 games with Murray this season, which would tie for 13th in the NBA. But in 18 games without him, the Pelicans averaged just 102.4 points, which would be the lowest in the league.

“It hurt a lot, l can’t lie to you,” said Trey Murphy III, who scored 40 points in the loss. “He’s been through a lot already, and it doesn’t help. But a lot of times God puts you through situations in order to give you a bigger message. I think that’s what’s happening right now. It’s not always easy to understand what he’s saying, but there always a reason.”

Information from ESPN Research and The Associated Press was used in this report.