PG D’Angelo Russell is holding the Minnesota Timberwolves back

Rusell’s struggles have lingered with him through his career

The Timberwolves knew what to expect from D’Angelo Russell. They knew, or should have known, when they made the infamous trade with Golden State Warriors to acquire him, parting with a first round pick in addition to sending small forward Andrew Wiggins, who blossomed into an elite role player on their championship team just two years later.

Russell is a streaky shooter with a penchant for late-game heroics (which is overrated, in my opinion). He’s a solid, but not great, distributor. His defensive effort is far from consistent, and even when he’s dialed in, he’s only average. Above all else, he has not demonstrated the ability to lead a contender-level offense.

Now in his eighth season in the league, he’s well past the point of “rising star” status. While some players are able to make meaningful strides deep into their careers, it is not something that can be expected. I am no longer interested in talking about what Russell needs to do to get better.

Alternative options

My mind is now on possible paths to upgrades at the point guard position–if they are to move on from Russell, the solution doesn’t currently reside on this roster. As much value as Jordan McLaughlin brings, he is maximized running the second unit.

There aren’t a lot of high-quality distributing guards available on the market, at least not this far out from the trade deadline. The standout candidate, in my eyes, is PG Mike Conley of the Utah Jazz. Conley, at this point in his career, is not a major scoring threat (though he’s still knocking down 42 percent of his threes on an average of nearly six attempts per game), but he remains a stellar facilitator at seven assists per game.

Conley’s orchestration of Utah’s offense is a huge reason why they’ve jumped out to a surprising 6-2 record, but at some point it is still likely that their priorities will shift to the draft, and Conley is one of their most attractive assets, one who is likely to be coveted by other guard-needy teams, which could drive up his price.

Whether the Timberwolves decide to try to upgrade this year or not, it is becoming clearer and clearer that the fit of this starting lineup does not come naturally. If they stand pat with Russell, there will be stretches where he plays incredibly well. There will be 30-point games, ridiculous shots in the clutch, times it seems he can’t be stopped. But there will also be games when he is a red carpet to the rim, a turnover machine, and a complete scoring non-factor.

Russell is a known commodity in the league, and in a contract year that many expected to be excellent, his poor play is losing him money by the game. He simply does not belong in the starting rotation of this team, and the longer he plays for the Wolves, the lower their ceiling will be.