{"id":108671,"date":"2025-06-19T02:15:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-19T02:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/108671\/"},"modified":"2025-06-19T02:15:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T02:15:10","slug":"dejounte-murray-reveals-gregg-popovich-tried-to-move-his-mother-to-san-antonio-with-own-money-after-she-was-shot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/108671\/","title":{"rendered":"Dejounte Murray Reveals Gregg Popovich Tried To Move His Mother To San Antonio With Own Money After She Was Shot"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dejounte Murray Reveals Gregg Popovich Tried To Move His Mother To San Antonio With Own Money After She Was Shot<\/a> originally appeared on Fadeaway World<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In an emotional and powerful interview on The Pivot Podcast<\/a>, New Orleans Pelicans<\/a> guard Dejounte Murray<\/a> opened up about the incredible lengths legendary coach Gregg Popovich<\/a> once went to out of pure love and concern, not just for his player, but for the man behind the jersey.<\/p>\n

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Murray revealed that during his rookie year with the San Antonio Spurs<\/a>, his mother was shot in the leg, a traumatic incident he hadn\u2019t publicly shared in detail until now. But what truly stunned listeners was what Popovich did next.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was so crazy, a lot of my people don\u2019t even know this. From family, friends, and the penitentiary.”<\/p>\n

“Pop didn\u2019t want me to go to Seattle. When I first got drafted, I wouldn\u2019t go to Seattle. And that was a man who cared about me. That was a man who wanted me to reach my full potential in life first, then as a basketball player. He\u2019s so real. He tried to move my mom to San Antonio with his own money after she got shot.”<\/p>\n

“My mom was shot in the leg my rookie year. He called her himself, without me knowing until after the fact. \u2018We want to move you here. No, not with his money, with my money.\u2019 That sounds like a dude that cares about me and loves me, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

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Popovich didn\u2019t just make the call. He offered to fund the entire relocation of Murray\u2019s mother out of his own pocket. No publicity, no fanfare, just one of the most respected coaches in basketball history making a deeply personal gesture because he saw pain and wanted to heal it.<\/p>\n

For Murray, the moment solidified what \u201cPop\u201d truly represented beyond basketball: a mentor, a father figure, and a man who believed in him when many others didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Murray\u2019s own journey to the NBA was turbulent, raised in tough Seattle neighborhoods, navigating crime and instability, but he found a haven in San Antonio, largely thanks to Popovich\u2019s guidance.<\/p>\n

This wasn\u2019t just a coach protecting a player\u2019s performance. It was a man trying to protect a young athlete\u2019s soul.<\/p>\n

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The revelation comes at a vulnerable time in Murray\u2019s life, as he battles through one of the most emotionally draining seasons of his career with the Pelicans<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Between personal tragedies, including a broken hand, a cousin’s death, and his uncle\u2019s overdose, and a lack of organizational support, Murray\u2019s on-court struggles were compounded by an overwhelming sense of isolation.<\/p>\n

Yet even now, years later and on a different team, it\u2019s clear that Murray carries Popovich\u2019s example with him. That kind of gesture, unprompted, personal, and selfless, speaks to the kind of leadership that defined the Spurs dynasty.<\/p>\n

Gregg Popovich may have stepped down from coaching<\/a>, but stories like this prove his impact on players\u2019 lives extends far beyond the hardwood.<\/p>\n

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For Dejounte Murray, he wasn\u2019t just coached, he was cared for at a level most professional athletes never experience. And it\u2019s something he\u2019ll never forget.<\/p>\n

Related: Gregg Popovich Embraces New Role After Retirement: “I’m El Jefe”<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally reported by Fadeaway World<\/a> on Jun 18, 2025, where it first appeared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dejounte Murray Reveals Gregg Popovich Tried To Move His Mother To San Antonio With Own Money After She…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":108672,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3797],"tags":[7,7935,2878,3349,6,470,969,474,4075,4074,534],"class_list":{"0":"post-108671","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio-spurs","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-basketball-history","10":"tag-dejounte-murray","11":"tag-gregg-popovich","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-new-orleans-pelicans","14":"tag-san-antonio","15":"tag-san-antonio-spurs","16":"tag-sanantonio","17":"tag-sanantoniospurs","18":"tag-spurs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114707623117491581","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}