Is Dejounte Murray an NBA villain now?

He's beefing with a rookie. He's tapping people on the head with a basketball. He's trashing the Spurs. Does Dejounte want to be a villain?

Good morning. Let’s basketball.

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The biggest NBA development in recent days is that Dejounte Murray and Paolo Banchero, both Seattle dudes, have beef after some battles at Isaiah Thomas’ Zeke End run in the Emerald City.

I kept seeing clips of Dejounte mad at Banchero, and then saw that there was some Instagram comments going back and forth, so I became determined to get to the bottom of it.

I am no closer to the bottom of it than I was when I started. Dejounte seems mad about Banchero no longer being humble, but it’s totally unclear in what ways Paolo is abandoning his humility. This is either happening off-camera/off-internet, or Murray is just on one.

Here’s the evidence we have.

First, Murray fakes out Banchero while side-eyeing him, goes off the backboard to dunk it and throws the ball at Banchero afterward.

Overtime @overtime

Dejounte Murray that’s sick 🤮 @DejounteMurray @isaiahthomas

Rude as hell.

Then we have this. Murray seems to intentionally bump Banchero after a foul (Paolo doesn’t seem to think anything of it) and then trash talks Paolo on his way out of the game.

israel @iohandles

Dejounte Murray on Paolo Banchero: “That’s who they came to see? It’s a man’s league, he a little boy.”

Seems aggressive! What did Dejounte do after the game? He unfollows him on Instagram, of course, which gets a reaction out of Banchero.

Rob Perez @WorldWideWob

did not have Paolo vs. Dejounte as our offseason beef matchup but ok

Overtime @overtime

Dejounte Murray that’s sick 🤮 @DejounteMurray @isaiahthomas https://t.co/kDyGsvUEYj

The rookie escalates by calling out Team Dejounte sending doubles at the No. 1 pick. (Eyewitness accounts and the other video I’ve seen indicates that Paolo was really good in the game, for what it’s worth.)

Paolo’s response seems to really set Dejounte off.

Legion Hoops @LegionHoops

Dejounte Murray has now responded to Paolo Banchero… oh boy.

Maybe Banchero said something at some point to set off Murray or someone else steeped in the Pacific Northwest lore. (Both are close to and heavily credit Jamal Crawford as a mentor. Maybe he can broker peace?) Maybe the fact that Banchero went to Duke turned people. Or … maybe Dejounte Murray is just embracing his trade to the Hawks to lean into basketball villany?

We do have a few more data points on this note.