Opening is supposed to be a , as teams still have the belief that this will be their year. In New Orleans, much of the excitement stems from having a , who they hope can give them a different dimension and push them further into the playoff conversation in the West. On Wednesday night, the Pelicans got their season underway with a 123-111 win over the Bulls at home in the Smoothie King Center, with Murray filling up the stat sheet with 14 points, 10 assists, and eight rebounds in 30 minutes on the floor in a win that was headlined by Brandon Ingram’s 33-point outburst.
However, after the game brought word that Murray suffered what the team fears is a fractured left hand and will miss some time. Murray came out of the game with a minute to play in the fourth in a mass substitution with the rest of the starters, but at some point he took a hit to the hand that caused the injury. The Pelicans do have a decent bit of backcourt depth and can manage a stretch without Murray, as CJ McCollum can run point and they have Jose Alvarado as a more than capable backup.
Still, losing your starting point guard is never a good thing, especially considering Murray is new to the Pelicans and missing any extended time just takes away valuable reps with the rest of the team to continue building rapport and getting comfortable on the court together..
