Trade D’Angelo Russell? 3 reasons to tap the brakes on that . . .
By Bret Stuter
Reason III: Friendships
The Minnesota Timberwolves deliberately added D’Angelo Russell to the roster, because he is good friends with Karl-Anthony Towns. At the time, the frustration over the Timberwolves’ inability to build a contender around Towns was concerning enough that the front office felt the need to leverage their ability to retain their star center.
As a result, the Timberwolves traded Andrew Wiggins and picks to the Golden State Warriors for D’Angelo Russell and two other players:
The Warriors have acquired Andrew Wiggins, a 2021 first round draft pick (top 3 protected), and a 2021 second round draft pick from the Timberwolves in exchange for Jacob Evans III, D’Angelo Russell, and Omari Spellman. pic.twitter.com/ozBrDQJTcc
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) February 6, 2020
That trade was controversial then and remains controversial to this day. But the goal of the trade was not solely to improve the Timberwolves roster. Rather, the objectives were to:
Add a more suitable player to the roster
Add D’Angelo Russell, whose friendship with Karl-Anthony Towns would increase the team’s chances of keeping him on the roster
One part of multiple trades that completely renovated the roster
But let’s examine how the Timberwolves have played with Russell on the roster. In 2019-20, the Timberwolves finished their final 12 games at 3-9. In 2020-21, the Timberwolves played to a 23-49 record. In 2021-22, the Timberwolves improved to a 46-36 record. And so far, the Timberwolves have a 16-15 record. Clearly, the team is winning games with Russell on the court, and Russell is not a problematic player.
And having a friend to KAT helps hold this roster together when the team is struggling to find those wins.
So let’s see if there are other reasons to keep Russell around through the end of this season.