The San Antonio Spurs made a move towards boosting their future midway through the 2018-19 season.

Head coach Gregg Popovich moved veteran guard Tony Parker to the bench in favor of Dejounte Murray, who became the team's new starting point guard. In a recent interview, Houston Rockets All-Star point guard Chris Paul had some high praise for Murray and said that Murray has a chance to be "really good."

From Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle:

"When Jamal Crawford got married a few years ago, Dejounte might have still been in high school," Paul said. "The night before Jamal's wedding we played a pickup game in Seattle. Dejounte was on my team. That was less of a preview than Paul gets with the many NBA point guards that have come through his camp, but it was enough to get an idea of what Murray could become. "Really good, really good," Paul said. "So athletic. Plays with a lot of confidence. Now, too, playing in San Antonio Pop (Spurs coach Gregg Popovich) gave him the keys to the ship. He's really going to be good now."

In his first season as the team's starting point guard, Murray put together averages of 8.1 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 2.9 assists while shooting 44.3 percent from the field in 81 regular season games throughout the 2017-18 season. During San Antonio's opening round postseason series against the eventual champion Golden State Warriors, Murray averaged 7.8 points, 4.2 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.0 steals and shot 66.7 percent from beyond the arc.

San Antonio proved that they're a big fan of what Murray brings to the table because the franchise picked up Murray's fourth year team option. Following the team picking up the option, Murray said that he was "thankful" that the Spurs did so and is looking forward to being a major part of the organization's future.

Getting an endorsement from a player of the caliber of Paul is a huge deal especially because of the various parts of the game that Murray can affect. The former Washington Huskie had a ton of hype entering the 2016 NBA Draft and the Spurs ended up pulling the trigger by selecting him with the No. 29 pick. Murray was eased into the lineup after averaging just 3.4 points in 8.5 minutes per contest. Obviously, Popovich saw enough throughout the first half of the 2017-18 season to make the change from Parker to Murray.

The Spurs definitely are progressing towards the future with implementing Murray as the team's starting point guard. Playing next to star guard DeMar DeRozan can only be a positive considering how much success DeRozan has had during the course of his NBA career. It'll be interesting to see if Murray takes the next step and shoulders a bigger scoring load this coming season.