ATLANTA – Atlanta Hawks guard Dejounte Murray often thinks about the positive influence his late great aunt Fannie Frazier had on him while she was living on Martin Luther King Jr. Way in Seattle. On MLK Day on Monday, her words about the civil rights leader still spoke volumes.
“I grew up around my great aunt who lived to 107 years old,” Murray, 27, told Andscape before a 109-99 victory over the San Antonio Spurs. “She witnessed that time [in the Civil Rights Movement]. Playing on MLK Day means a lot, just knowing his message that he was trying to push. Basically, that message is believing in yourself. Don’t allow nobody else to tell you what you can or cannot be and don’t be afraid to speak your mind.”
It is always a joyous MLK Day holiday at Hawks games in Atlanta.
Every year, a local gospel choir sings names of the Hawks players and the coach after they are introduced. Grammy-nominated rapper Killer Mike, an Atlanta native who owns a barbershop in State Farm Arena, also performed at halftime. Olympic gold medalist Tommie Smith, who raised a black-gloved fist along with bronze medalist John Carlos during the playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” on the podium at the 1968 Games in Mexico, attended the game.
Killer Mike spoke about the importance of King’s legacy in Atlanta after his performance.
“To me it’s a culmination of an education poured into me at Carter Heights Elementary, Frederick Douglass High School and later Morehouse College,” Killer Mike said. “It’s a common man’s education that my grandfather taught me about Dr. King and his family, the Atlanta folklore and methodology that a Black kid only 60 years out of segregation now can and will accomplish everything he sets his mind to. Not that obstacles won’t be in the way. But that the opportunities and possibilities are there.”
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Spurs rookie sensation Victor Wembanyama is now educating himself further on King’s legacy. It was sparked after his teammates wrote “Happy MLK Day” in their group texts. After the game, he asked people in the Spurs locker room about the importance of King in Atlanta.
King was a legendary Baptist minister, philosopher and social activist who played a key role in preaching nonviolence in the Civil Rights Movement before being assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. President Ronald Reagan signed the King Holiday Bill into law on Nov. 2, 1983, designating the third Monday in January a federal holiday. King was an alumnus of Atlanta’s Morehouse College and was co-pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, also known as the King Center, is also in Atlanta.
“In English class in France, they teach us a little bit about [King],” Wembanyama said. “They teach us a little about the United States and really thinking about the history of the country. He is one of the biggest and most important figures. So, I obviously don’t know as much as an American student, but I know a little bit.
“I didn’t know it was today until [Sunday]. I was surprised how big and how important it is to everyone.”
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has a strong opinion about of the perils of the world today without a King influence.
“In the times we live in now, it’s even more meaningful and appropriate because of the lack of leadership we seem to have in the world right now,” Popovich said pregame on King. “I can’t imagine what this great man would be thinking today if he were here watching the gutting of the Voting Rights Act and all the things that brought a lot of people out from under rocks that we never knew existed. Maybe it made us smarter that they’re there.
“I am still amazed at how many people buy in. I was watching some of the TV that and it showed some guy walking through the Capitol [Building in Washington] with a Confederate flag. That’s probably one of [Donald] Trump’s hostages. If it wasn’t so idiotic, you could laugh. It’s so blatantly bigoted. The racism has come to fore. There are no leaders that call it out on the Republican side, if you want to call it Republican.
“That is what I would be thinking about today: what [King] would be thinking, what he would be doing. He was such a man of vision. So much courage, ability to innovate, to figure out what kind of march was necessary. Where should it be, how should it be handled, because any progress that has been made isn’t because white people gave anything. It’s because they had to because Black people, with the leadership of Martin Luther King Jr., made it happen.”
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It’s what Popovich stands for as a man — his Hall of Fame coaching career, his championships and more — that still makes it bittersweet for Murray when he plays the Spurs. Murray had 13 points and 13 rebounds for the Hawks in a game where the highlight of MLK Day pushed his recent trade rumors aside.
The Hawks have come to the realization that the pairing of Murray and two-time NBA All-Star Trae Young isn’t working, a league source told Andscape. The Hawks are in the exploratory phase of trading Murray, who is getting strong interest due to his play on both ends, great image and manageable contract. Murray has said he would “welcome” interest from his beloved Popovich and the Spurs in an NBA TV interview and there have been reports that the Los Angeles Lakers, Brooklyn Nets, New York Knicks and Golden State Warriors are intrigued, too.
On the trade rumors, Murray told Andscape: “I tell several people who I stand for as a person. That is who Dejounte is. As a man or person, however you want to put it, it’s not appropriate for me to talk about that or let that get in the way for my teammates. I love my teammates. My teammates love me. I’m not a GM, owner, an agent, none of those things. I’m a basketball player. I’m a hooper. So, I continue to learn, lead and work hard.”
When asked how he is staying focused amid trade rumors, Murray said, “I know what the main goal is. The main goal is today. Today I’m an Atlanta Hawk and that’s all that matters. Help do my job and try to get a win. That’s the most important.”
At halftime, Killer Mike spoke eloquently about King and what he means to the city. Killer Mike also discussed what he and his business and music colleagues are doing to make Atlanta a better place. He is also a huge Atlanta sports fan of the Hawks, Braves and Falcons, and offered a plea to Murray via Andscape after the game.
“I like Dejounte. Dejounte, look, I hope he stays. I know trades are an inevitable part of the game. But I look forward to you being in Atlanta,” Killer Mike said.
Murray’s story of his journey from being a troubled youth in South Seattle to becoming a Hawks star is certainly motivational on MLK Day or any other day.
Gangs, violence, drugs, drive-by shootings and an incarcerated mother were all a part of Murray’s youth. He once told Sports Illustrated that “selling drugs or doing whatever in the streets, it was normal to my family.” He first went to juvenile detention in Seattle when he was 11, and between his freshman and sophomore years in high school.
Beautiful mentors such as Frazier and former NBA star and Seattle native Jamal Crawford helped change his life when he was about 15.
“I’m so proud of him,” Crawford told Andscape. “It was his dream to be where he is at. Now he has become bigger than that. He has become inspirational, especially to people in our community. People in Seattle who know his story, know how hard it was and know he was the rose that grew from concrete. We are all rooting for him.
“The best is yet to come for him. He’s a great player but a much better person. That is why everybody loves him.”
Murray said he got on the right path at the age of 15, and it showed by his focused actions. Crawford says he first envisioned that Murray could be a special basketball player around then. His great aunt first told her beloved “Baby Boy,” then a star player at Rainier Beach High School, that he would be in the NBA one day. Murray is now a six-year NBA veteran who was an All-Star in 2022 with the Spurs. The 6-foot-5 guard is averaging 20.8 points, 4.8 assists and 4.8 rebounds.
“She knew I was going to the NBA when I got out the streets and stuff and I was doing the right thing,” Murray told Andscape. “She was like, ‘You are going to go to the NBA.’ And I was like, ‘Nah, ain’t no way. I’m 15. The NBA? I still got to make it to college. I got to finish high school.’ Yeah, it’s crazy. She saw it … She knew what I’ve been through. She was older and always in the house. So, she would hear stories. ‘Oh, Baby Boy’ — that’s my nickname — ‘Baby Boy doing this,’ or ‘Baby Boy outside, acting up,’ whatever. But she also knew I was a great, good person.
“So, if you heard things about me, it’s about me always defending myself, protecting my people, or just trying to make a way for myself and my people. So, at the end of the day, she knew who I was and she seen what I was focused [on]. And it was just basketball, school. And there was no outside, no parties, no hanging out there and there.”
Frazier never got to see her great nephew play in the NBA. Murray said she died in 2015 when he was a freshman at the University of Washington. The Spurs drafted Murray with the 29th pick in the 2016 NBA draft.
“It would’ve been the world for her. She would’ve been at the draft. We would’ve got her on the plane to the draft,” Murray said.
There were 11 NBA games played on MLK Day. Murray said each one was “important” in honoring King’s legacy.
“It’s an honor to know the history of him, be a fan of just who he was as a person, what he stood for, and just be able to do what I love on a day that’s dedicated to him,” Murray said.
