D'Angelo Russell Heading to Golden State Warriors Via Sign and Trade With Nets
By Ryan Phillips | Jun 30 2019
D'Angelo Russell is reportedly heading to the Golden State Warriors. The 23-year-old guard will be part of a sign-and-trade between the Warriors and the Brooklyn Nets. He’ll receive a four-year, $117 million deal.
Golden State and Brooklyn have agreed on a sign-and-trade, sending D’Angelo Russell to the Warriors on a four-year, $117M maximum contract, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 1, 2019
While this deal has been agreed to, the Warriors couldn’t complete it until they unloaded some salary.
Golden State has to unload salary elsewhere to make this sign-and-trade happen --- which means Andre Iguodala could be on the move, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 1, 2019
So they did that, by shipping Andre Iguodala to the Memphis Grizzlies along with a few first-round picks:
Golden State is trading Andre Iguodala to the Memphis Grizzlies, league source tells ESPN. Warriors are sending a 2024 protected first-round pick in the 2024 (protected 1-4), 2025 (protected 1) and 2026 unprotected.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 1, 2019
If this deal is completed it will bring another scoring guard to the Warriors, but it could be an awkward fit.
Russell is a ball-dominant guard in an offense that runs through Stephen Curry. While Curry can play off-the-ball, he’s better when the offense runs through him. Klay Thompson works better off-the-ball, and Russell needs the ball in his hands to be effective.
Yes, Steve Kerr could find a way to make this work, but it’s not going to be an easy plug-and-play like adding Kevin Durant was.
Russell had a career-best season during the 2018-19 campaign. He set career-highs in points (21.1), assists (7.0), rebounds (3.9) and minutes (30.2) per game. He also hit a career-high 36.9 percent from 3-point range.