CBS Sports released their annual Top 100 NBA Players for the upcoming 2024-2025 season and former Virginia men’s basketball star Trey Murphy III made the list, coming in at No. 72. Murphy was one of six players from the New Orleans Pelicans to be included in the rankings and he moved up nine spots last year, when CBS Sports ranked him No. 81 in the league.
CBS Sports writer James Herbert wrote this about Trey Murphy III in the Top 100 article:
“In Murphy’s final 24 games of the 2023-24 season, he averaged 18.1 points and 6.2 rebounds in 33.9 minutes while shooting 41.7% from 3-point range at high volume. His usage rate jumped to 18.2% in Year 3 (up from 15.9% the previous season), but that’s still a pretty low number for a player this talented. We know that he has a high release point and incredible gravity as a shooter, and we know that he can attack closeouts and run pick-and-rolls in a pinch. We don’t know, however, what kind of playmaking responsibility he can handle or whether or not New Orleans will put him in a position to test his limits anytime soon.”
In his one season at Virginia after transferring from Rice, Trey Murphy III posted a 50-40-90 statline before declaring for the 2021 NBA Draft and getting picked No. 17 overall by the New Orleans Pelicans. Murphy had a breakout season in 2022-2023, starting 65 games and averaging 14.5 points per game and shooting 40.6% from beyond the arc, garnering votes for the NBA’s Most Improved Player award. He missed some time with injuries this past season, but was still productive and averaged career-highs in points (14.8), rebounds (4.9), and assists (2.2) while appearing in 57 games, including 23 starts.
Murphy, who is about to begin his fourth season in the NBA, was named to the USA Men’s Basketball Select Team for the second year in a row this summer, helping to train the United States Men’s National Team for the Paris Olympics.
Now that we’ve talked about who made the list, let’s talk about who didn’t. The most notable snub (arguably) is De’Andre Hunter, who was not included among the three Atlanta Hawks who made the top 100: Bogdan Bogdanovic (No. 97), Jalen Johnson (No. 80), Trae Young (No. 35). Hunter has comparable stats to Jalen Johnson and offers tremendous value on the defensive end of the floor, often guarding the opposing team’s best wing.
While it’s debatable at best that Hunter deserves a spot in the top 100, we’d at least contend that he is assuredly in the top 150 NBA players and could knock on the door of the top 100 with a good year in 2024-2025, his sixth NBA season.
It’d be difficult to argue in favor of any other former Wahoos making the NBA Top 100 at this time. Malcolm Brogdon, who turns 32 this December, is probably on the wrong side of his prime now. Meanwhile, it’s either too early or we haven’t seen enough yet (or both) to include the other active Virginia basketball alums like Sam Hauser, Ty Jerome, or Jay Huff or the incoming rookies Ryan Dunn and Reece Beekman.
