D'Angelo Russell Wants To Be Lakers Point Guard Of The Future

Post #1 » by **RealGM Wiretap** » Tue Mar 14, 2023 1:12 pm

D'Angelo Russell was once tabbed as the Los Angeles Lakers point guard of the future. It's been a circuitous path since Russell's first two NBA seasons in LA, but it seems we're right back where we started.

Russell was traded to the Lakers from the Minnesota Timberwolves at the trade deadline in a three-team deal that also involved the Utah Jazz. Russell has spent parts of the last six seasons with the Brooklyn Nets, Golden State Warriors and the Wolves before returning to the LA.

ESPN's NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Russell hopes being in Los Angeles is something that sticks this time around.

"D’Angelo Russell very much wanted a second chance in LA with the Lakers and you’ve seen the impact he made coming back against Toronto the other night, playing great in a win, and again tonight," Wojnarowski said. "He wants to be the point guard of the future for this organization. He’ll be a free agent this summer.”

Russell and the Lakers reportedly have mutual interest in a contract extension. Barring that getting done, Russell will be a free agent this summer and Los Angeles will have his full Bird rights in July.

Via Adrian Wojnarowski/ESPN

TimeisIllmatic · Post #2 » by **TimeisIllmatic** » Tue Mar 14, 2023 4:59 pm

As long as he doesn't get a contract that exceeds 3 years, I'm on board with it. I think D'Lo's passing can improve, but his playmaking and assertion has been a breath of fresh air for the Lakers offense.

Pickled Prunes · Post #3 » by **Pickled Prunes** » Tue Mar 14, 2023 6:49 pm

Well, now is his chance to convince LAL to do something foolish. They should be willing to use his bird rights to resign him and pay the tax that comes with that. (He's only 27.) But they need to be sure that the deal is tradeable. None of the teams projected to have cap space will be in the market for a combo guard so LAL will likely be bidding against themselves.

tyler_rex · Post #4 » by **tyler_rex** » Tue Mar 14, 2023 7:43 pm

If I am a Laker fan I would rather they re-sign Russell and the other young players to short term deals, which if things don’t work out would be easier to trade.rather than blow it all up again to sign Kyrie and a bunch of min guys which is being floated around.

LakersLegacy · Post #5 » by **LakersLegacy** » Tue Mar 14, 2023 9:15 pm

Lakers just need to resign the players we traded for. Without having bad contracts on these players

-we should definitely point out that Kuzma became the face of Puma basketball while in LA. And the off the court money hopefully makes up for the crazy high highest state taxes in the country.

-also the post career opportunities as most past Lakers get a job on the Lakers Tv station.

-the value of all the Lakers Tv station programming so much original content. The exposure. How to monetize all that

cheese318 · Post #6 » by **cheese318** » Tue Mar 14, 2023 9:41 pm

tyler_rex wrote:If I am a Laker fan I would rather they re-sign Russell and the other young players to short term deals, which if things don’t work out would be easier to trade.rather than blow it all up again to sign Kyrie and a bunch of min guys which is being floated around.

I agree if they can somehow bring back Troy Brown & D’Angelo Russell that’s a huge win. Having Schroeder as a 6th man would be key and he really fits in well but I don’t think they’ll have the funds to keep him. Only way that happens is if Russell would take less money. Brown & Schroeder were on minimum contracts so they both will be looking to explore free agency and look to get paid. Brown could be MLE for LAL with his age & 3/D skills he’d be the bigger need and you’d have to accept losing Schroeder and find a replacement.

MitchB3 · Post #7 » by **MitchB3** » Tue Mar 14, 2023 9:54 pm

Does the Lakers want him to be the Point Guard of the future?

tyler_rex · Post #8 » by **tyler_rex** » Wed Mar 15, 2023 12:49 am

cheese318 wrote:
tyler_rex wrote:If I am a Laker fan I would rather they re-sign Russell and the other young players to short term deals, which if things don’t work out would be easier to trade.rather than blow it all up again to sign Kyrie and a bunch of min guys which is being floated around.

I agree if they can somehow bring back Troy Brown & D’Angelo Russell that’s a huge win. Having Schroeder as a 6th man would be key and he really fits in well but I don’t think they’ll have the funds to keep him. Only way that happens is if Russell would take less money. Brown & Schroeder were on minimum contracts so they both will be looking to explore free agency and look to get paid. Brown could be MLE for LAL with his age & 3/D skills he’d be the bigger need and you’d have to accept losing Schroeder and find a replacement.

I think both could easily be brought back under reasonable contracts, especially Schroeder he was out of the league pretty much. Troy Brown maybe if he finishes strong and the Lakers have a deep playoff run and performs really well someone might overpay.

Pickled Prunes · Post #9 » by **Pickled Prunes** » Wed Mar 15, 2023 3:23 am

LakersLegacy wrote:Lakers just need to resign the players we traded for. Without having bad contracts on these players

-we should definitely point out that Kuzma became the face of Puma basketball while in LA. And the off the court money hopefully makes up for the crazy high highest state taxes in the country.

-also the post career opportunities as most past Lakers get a job on the Lakers Tv station.

-the value of all the Lakers Tv station programming so much original content. The exposure. How to monetize all that

Puma does basketball?

And how many Lakers players have there been? I'm pretty sure a very small percent of them work for the Lakers in any capacity, and most of them are from the "Showtime" era.

Beasley is averaging 11/4/1 on 37% shooting and the Lakers can opt out of his $16m deal for next season. He's gone.

D'Lo might be worth about $20-25m, but that would be a significant pay cut. I don't know where his head is at, but he's 27 which is typically the beginning of a players prime. Does he really want to take a pay cut to be Lebron's lapdog and become the scapegoat when/if things go wrong? I would guess that if someone out there offers him a nickle more in free agency he'll be gone too. LAL doesn't want to risk that, so my guess is that they are about to extend him for more than he's worth.

napdash · Post #10 » by **napdash** » Wed Mar 15, 2023 4:47 am

TimeisIllmatic wrote:As long as he doesn't get a contract that exceeds 3 years, I'm on board with it. I think D'Lo's passing can improve, but his playmaking and assertion has been a breath of fresh air for the Lakers offense.

Expect a call from Laker front office before the deadline for your signoff

Roy T · Post #11 » by **Roy T** » Wed Mar 15, 2023 11:56 am

Yeah, me too. Won't happen tho.