NBA ALL-STAR MEDIA DAY

February 19, 2022

Dejounte Murray

Media Day Press Conference

DEJOUNTE MURRAY: San Antonio was blessed to have Tim, David Robinson, Manu, Tony, Sean Elliott. I could go on and on. Even the role guys they put around them guys, they were blessed. We were just talking about LeBron in year 19. Eventually he's going to be done playing. So you enjoy it in the moment and know there's always going to be a time where things get sent back and you've got to find a way to get back going toward the right direction.

I think we're going in the right direction. I think we've got a lot of great pieces, but the main thing, everybody is great humans and they work hard. When you've got that combination and are willing to learn, it's only right that things will start going in the right direction.

Q. On NBA All-Star:

DEJOUNTE MURRAY: Well, as a player this is my first day, so I'm enjoying it right now. But just as a fan, just watching it, watching it every year it comes on and just watching everything from the Rising Stars to the Skills contest, 3-Point shootout all the way to the game, I've never missed it, I don't know, in the last 15 years, just being a fan of basketball and a fan of the great players that our league has. You know, favorite players and all them type of things.

As a fan, I've been enjoying it for a long time. I'll continue to enjoy it. But as a player, it's unbelievable. It's surreal. I'm thankful and grateful, and I'm just here to have fun.

Q. On his favorite All-Star event:

DEJOUNTE MURRAY: I could only watch one event? The All-Star Game. Yeah, the game itself, for sure.

Q. On DeMar DeRozan:

DEJOUNTE MURRAY: He's low maintenance. When I say that, I say that with a lot of respect. For his caliber, the time he's put in this league, the success he's had in this league, the way he acts, you would think that he's like a young guy trying to earn everything in this league.

So that right there, I knew he would fit in with any team he went to because you know you're going to get a great person, you're going to get somebody who works hard and somebody who pays attention to everything and somebody who's willing to learn and also give back to the young guys. They already had their chemistry, but adding him was just even greater for them. I told him that. We talked about it when it first happened. He was excited, and you could just tell. He's having fun. He's having his best year, and he's just enjoying it.

Q. (No microphone).

DEJOUNTE MURRAY: For sure. That's big when you don't have that ego. It helps you win games. It helps you have a lot of success. Ego and pride can come between a lot and ruin a lot of things.

Q. Do you have a favorite All-Star moment?

DEJOUNTE MURRAY: My favorite All-Star moment? I think I can say probably when AI (Allen Iverson) was in it. I grew up an AI fan, just him as a person. We call it dope, like he's a dope person, kind of like a great guy, whatever, however you want to put it. The moments he was in the games, I always watched it when I was young, watching AI in the games.