Murray Is Traded to Portland

The Portland Trail Blazers acquired the rights to first-round draft pick Tracy Murray in a three-team trade Wednesday that sent Dale Ellis to San Antonio and Alaa Abdelnaby to Milwaukee.

Murray, a 6-foot-7 sharpshooter from UCLA, was picked by San Antonio as the No. 18 selection in this year’s draft. He averaged 21.4 points and shot 54% last season as a junior.

“The desire to acquire an outside shooter is what prompted the move,” said Bucky Buckwalter, the Trail Blazers’ vice president for basketball operations.

“Tracy is a terrific perimeter shooter with a very bright future in the NBA. Most observers feel that Tracy would have been a lottery pick in next year’s draft had he not come out early this year.”

Murray shot 50% from three-point range (78 for 156) last season.

“The bottom line on Tracy is he’s a world-class shooter,” said Brad Greenberg, the Trail Blazers’ player personnel director. “We thought he was the best shooter in college basketball.”

Milwaukee’s management had been talking to San Antonio about the No. 18 pick and Ellis for some time.

The Trail Blazers had suggested to Milwaukee officials that they would be interested in Murray if he was chosen in that spot, Greenberg said.

Murray said he knew from the start that San Antonio would trade him but didn’t know if he would wind up in Milwaukee or somewhere else. He said he was ecstatic to be acquired by theTrail Blazers.

“I heard about Portland two days ago. I thought it was a trade rumor until it happened today,” he said. “I was very happy when I heard. I wanted to yell.”

Buckwalter said he sees Murray playing mostly at small forward, but he could see some action at big guard, particularly if free agent Danny Ainge signs with Phoenix.

“I think Portland is going to be surprised at my versatility,” Murray said. “They can put me just about anywhere and I’ll fit in.”

Ellis, a 31-year-old guard, will be playing for his fourth team in 10 NBA seasons. He is fifth all-time among NBA three-point shooters and shares the league record with Michael Adams for most three-pointers in a game at nine.

The 6-10 Abdelnaby, chosen out of Duke as the 25th player in the 1990 draft, fell out of favor with the coaching staff in his two seasons with Portland.

The Egyptian-born Abdelnaby averaged 4.9 points, 3.1 rebounds and 10.7 minutes of playing time in his two NBA seasons.

Last season, he averaged 6.1 points and had career highs of 13 points against Detroit on Dec. 13 and 13 rebounds against Orlando on Dec. 4.