D'Angelo Russell played for the Minnesota Timberwolves from 2020 to 2023. In a multi-team deal that helped the Wolves land Mike Conley and Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Russell was dealt to the Los Angeles Lakers for his second stint in LA. While Russell had a solid first year and a half with the Lakers, in his past two seasons, he has shown signs of decline.
Russell was traded to the Brooklyn Nets in the middle of last year and signed with the Dallas Mavericks this past offseason. Despite Kyrie Irving being sidelined with injury, and the Mavs desperately needing a point guard, Russell has fallen out of favor in Jason Kidd's rotation. He played just 10 minutes during the Mavs game on Monday against the Miami Heat and didn't see the court during Friday's game against the Lakers.
As mentioned earlier, the Mavs desperately need a point guard, which makes Russell's lack of minutes even more concerning. To put this in perspective, he is losing minutes to undrafted guard Ryan Nembhard and Brandon Williams, who was on a two-way last season. With all due respect to these players, D'Lo not being able to earn minutes over them is undoubtedly a red flag.
Overall, Russell is averaging 11.9 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 4.8 assists on 39.2/25/69.6 shooting splits this season.
Russell's poor play makes his NBA future unclear
Even at his best, Russell has always been a tricky player to evaluate. His erratic decision-making as both a shooter and playmaker, paired with poor defense, made his numbers look better than his impact. While he was never Mr. Efficiency, there's no denying Russell could score at a high level. Likewise, his playmaking was never the most stable, but there's no doubt that he could initiate offense at a high rate.
Now that Russell's shot-making ability has plummeted, though, his impact is limited. If Russell can't play over Nembhard and Williams, there's no chance that he will crack the rotation when Kyrie Irving presumably returns.
We now have a two-year sample size to suggest that D'Lo is no longer the same player. Last year, Russell averaged 12.6 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 5.1 assists, on 39/31.4/83.4 shooting splits. At this point, Russell's career is at a crossroads.
I'm sure the Mavericks would love to trade him, but who would want him? He would likely have to be used as salary filler if he's traded. Russell has a year left on his deal. After that, though, it's unclear if another team would be willing to give him one more chance.
What is clear, though, is that the Timberwolves weren't holding him back after all.