The Trey Murphy III File
Team: New Orleans Pelicans
Height: 6-9
Weight: 206
Age: 22
Birthday: 6/18/2000
College: Rice, Virginia
Draft: 17th overall pick, 2021 NBA Draft
Contract: Signed a 4-year, $14.78 million contract in 2021
Against All Odds
Trey Murphy III was a two star recruit coming out of high school. Generally it's not a great place to be, as the odds are stacked against you in this case. None of that seemed to phase Murphy, who just put in a lot of hard work in trying to reach his dreams. He wasn't heavily recruited coming out of high school. A two star recruit, Murphy ended up attending Rice, before eventually transferring to Virginia. It's that part of the journey that makes this top 20 pick even more impressive.
Murphy attributes a ton of his success to Rice, where he learned to grow up on the court. No longer was he a high schooler yelling at teammates, or the tall guy with no strength. Without the experience at Rice, who knows if Virginia would've ever come calling. It's all apart of the phrase his father drilled into him at a young age, "Either you're going to be great, or you're going to quit."
Make no mistake about it though. Murphy is a high character, family oriented guy that battled to make it to the NBA. With an invite to the 2023 NBA Dunk Contest, perhaps many more will become familiar with his story.