During his playing career, Murphy was nicknamed Radar, "Lucky Luke", and "Ed-la-Gâchette",[1] which in French means, “Ed-the-Trigger”.

During his pro club career, Murphy won two European-wide third-tier level FIBA Korać Cup championships, in the 1981–82 and 1982–83 seasons.

At Marist, he quickly proved himself as a player, after spending hours of training working on adjusting his jump shots and overall basketball technique.

In his 1975–76 college sophomore season, he averaged 23.0 points per game, and he was an NCAA II Second Team All-American selection.

[8][9] In his 1976–77 college junior season, Murphy the NCAA II in scoring, with an average of 32.0 points per game.

[12] While at Merrimack, Murphy twice led the school to the NCAA Division II Sweet 16, in the 1976–77 and the 1977–78 seasons, where they lost both times to the Sacred Heart Pioneers.

[13] Since Murphy played at a small college basketball program, in the NCAA's Second Division, the Atlanta Hawks' management were only willing to offer him a non-guaranteed contract.

I worked for two months in the United Parcel Service, and in November, I got a call from Glinder Torain, who placed American players in Europe.

[15] His contract in the Netherlands was the result of advice that was given to the club by the sports agent Glinder Torain,[6] and also due to the scouting of the team's player-coach, Charis Sideris.

[16] Murphy's performance provoked the ire of EBBC Den Bosch's head coach, Ton Boot.

As a result of such performances, Murphy was selected to the Dutch League All-Star Game, in which he scored 30 points.

His team's coach, Charis Sideris, would years later state that, "I remember how Wim Benschop and I had followed his successful campaign.

[17] With a scoring average of 35.8 points per contest,[18] Murphy was the leading scorer of the Dutch League, in the 1978–79 season.

Mechelen won the Belgian national league's championship, they thus qualified for the next season's edition of the FIBA European Champions' Cup (now known as the EuroLeague), which is the top-tier level pro club basketball competition in Europe.

With Limoges, Murphy quickly silenced his critics, who had previously said that he was too unathletic and too slow for the French League.

In the 1982 Korać Cup Final, Limoges defeated the Yugoslav League club Šibenka, and its legendary star player, Dražen Petrović, by a score of 90 to 84.

In the 1983 Korać Cup Final, Limoges once again defeated Šibenka, which was still led by Dražen Petrović, by a score of 94 to 86.

In Europe's top-tier level competition, the FIBA European Champions' Cup (EuroLeague), Murphy averaged 33.0 points per game in the 1983–84 season.

On 17 November 1984, during his last season with Limoges (1984–85), Murphy scored 53 points, in a French League game against ES Avignon.

"[21] In September 2016, over 30 years after having last played for the club, Murphy had his number 8 jersey retired by Limoges CSP.

[4] Murphy continued his playing career with Champel de Genève of the Swiss Basketball League, after having parted ways with Limoges CSP, in 1985.

[27] In 1990, after finishing the 1989–90 season with Nyon, Murphy retired from playing professional club basketball, at the age of 34.