Now in his 11th NBA season, point guard D’Angelo Russell began the year on the fifth team of his career, the Dallas Mavericks. With Kyrie Irving expected to miss much of this season with a torn ACL (announced on Wednesday that he will miss the season), Russell was expected to play a huge role for Dallas.
Instead, Russell hasn’t even played since January 10 and was a major disappointment when he was seeing time on the floor. Traded to the Washington Wizards at the trade deadline, he isn’t expected to suit up for them and was told not to report.
A buyout is expected, and while the Minnesota Timberwolves (one of his former teams) have been said to have a point guard weakness all season, they shouldn’t even give a thought of bringing him back on board.
D'Angelo Russell just hasn't been any good
There may be reasons as to why someone can talk themselves into believing Russell can help a contender. He was a high draft pick (second overall in 2015) who isn’t even quite 30 years old yet (although he turns 30 on February 23). He’s a 17-point scorer for his career who averaged 18 with 6.3 assists just two years ago with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Last season was a steep decline, though, for the 6-foot-3 guard, splitting his time with the Lakers and the Brooklyn Nets. After the subpar season, he joined the Mavs on a two-year deal worth $11.65 million (second year being a player option). That is a large decrease in salary from Russell’s previous contract of two years, $36 million.
D’Angelo’s performance in his 19 games for Dallas…well, they weren’t good. Russell connected on less than 30% of his 3-point tries, and the team was outscored by 4 points per 100 possessions with him on the court. His 12.4 PER this year is a career-worst mark.
A second tenure with the Timberwolves would just be a desperation move by Minnesota, and an unnecessary one. They have an open roster spot, which was expected to be filled by Johnny Juzang, but he was surprisingly released on Wednesday.
With the way Russell has played this season, and even last, he wouldn’t be an upgrade on what Bones Hyland has provided for Minnesota. Ayo Dosunmu was added at the trade deadline to soak up some backup point guard minutes as well. Mike Conley is also officially back, and while he will likely play less than he previously did, I don’t think Chris Finch would play Russell over him.
In the 2022 playoffs, his one time making it with the Timberwolves, Russell made just one-third of his field goal attempts in a six-game opening round loss to the Memphis Grizzlies. He’s at just 38.8 percent from the field over 32 playoff games in his career.
Sometimes, bringing a player back for a second tenure is a feel-good story. A D’Angelo Russell reunion with the Timberwolves isn’t likely to qualify as that.