Tag: dangelo russell

D’Angelo Russell reportedly re-signing with Lakers

Per ESPN.com:

Co-heads of CAA Basketball Austin Brown and Aaron Mintz, along with Antonio Russell, have confirmed that D’Angelo Russell has an agreement on a two-year, $37 million contract with the Los Angeles Lakers.

A player option for the next year is part of the agreement.

In a three-team trade involving the Lakers, Minnesota Timberwolves, and Utah Jazz, Russell, who was originally selected by the Lakers with the No. 2 overall pick in 2015, returned to Los Angeles in February. He came from the Wolves to take the place of departing Russell Westbrook.

FULL ARTICLE

Three-team trade sends D’Angelo Russell to Lakers, Russell Westbrook to Jazz

The Los Angeles Lakers have acquired via trade guard D’Angelo Russell from the Minnesota Timberwolves and guard Malik Beasley and forward Jarred Vanderbilt from the Utah Jazz, it was announced today by Vice President of Basketball Operations and General Manager Rob Pelinka.

In the trade, the Lakers sent guard Russell Westbrook, forward Juan Toscano-Anderson, center Damian Jones and a protected first-round pick to Utah and a future second-round pick to Minnesota.

“We are thrilled to add D’Angelo, Malik and Jarred to our organization and are confident their talents will boost our ability to finish the season strongly,” said Pelinka. “In this trade, we’ve added switchable wing defending, perimeter shooting and rebounding depth. We welcome D’Angelo back to the Lakers family and look forward to him donning the purple and gold in front of our passionate fan base once again. We certainly want to thank Russell, Juan and Damian for their time here in Los Angeles and wish them and their families nothing but success moving forward.”

Russell (6’4”, 200) has appeared in 54 games (all starts) for Minnesota this season, averaging 17.9 points, 3.1 rebounds, 6.2 assists and 1.1 steals in 32.9 minutes per game, shooting a career-best 39.1 percent from 3-point range. In 478 career NBA games (414 starts) across eight seasons with the Timberwolves (2019-23), Warriors (2019-20), Nets (2017-19) and Lakers (2015-17), the 2019 NBA All-Star has averaged 17.7 points (.360 3P%), 3.5 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.1 steals in 29.8 minutes. The 26-year-old has played in 11 career playoff games (all starts) with the Timberwolves (2021-22) and Nets (2018-19), averaging 15.4 points, 3.0 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.5 steals in 31.3 minutes per game. Russell was drafted by the Lakers with the second overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft out of Ohio State and returns to Los Angeles after averaging 14.3 points, 3.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.3 steals in 143 games (108 starts) from 2015-17.

Beasley (6’4”, 187) has played 55 games (13 starts) for Utah this season, averaging 13.4 points (.359 3P%), 3.6 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 26.8 minutes per game. In 391 career games (100 starts) across seven seasons with the Jazz (2022-23), Timberwolves (2019-22) and Nuggets (2016-20), Beasley has averaged 10.8 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 21.7 minutes, shooting 38.0 percent from beyond the arc. In 20 career playoff games for the Timberwolves (2021-22) and Nuggets (2018-19), the 26-year-old has averaged 8.2 points and 3.4 rebounds in 20.0 minutes per game. The Florida State alum leads all bench players with 129 3-pointers made this season, and his 169 total triples ranks seventh among all players.

Vanderbilt (6’8”, 214) has appeared in 52 games (41 starts) for Utah this season, averaging 8.3 points, 7.9 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.0 steals in 24.1 minutes per game. In 218 career games (138 starts) across five seasons with the Jazz (2022-23), Timberwolves (2019-22) and Nuggets (2018-20), Vanderbilt has averaged 6.1 points, 6.6 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.0 steals in 20.1 minutes, while shooting 58.0 percent from the field. The 23-year-old has played nine playoff games (six starts) with the Timberwolves (2021-22) and Nuggets (2018-19), averaging 3.7 points and 4.9 rebounds in 14.9 minutes.

In 52 games (three starts) for the Lakers this season, Westbrook averaged 15.9 points, 6.2 rebounds, 7.5 assists and 1.0 steals in 28.7 minutes. Toscano-Anderson averaged 2.7 points and 2.0 rebounds in 16.2 minutes per game in 30 contests (seven starts) for the Lakers this season. Jones suited up in 22 games (one start) for the purple and gold in 2022-23, averaging 2.5 points and 2.5 rebounds in 8.0 minutes per contest.

On D’Angelo Russell and the Timberwolves

Here’s the St. Paul Pioneer Press on Minnesota Timberwolves guard D’Angelo Russell:

D’Angelo Russell, the man known for having “ice in his veins” — an ode to his clutch shot making — spent the most important minutes of the Timberwolves’ season on the bench.

Russell sat in favor of Jordan McLaughlin for the final five minutes of Minnesota’s Game 6 loss on Saturday at Target Center. That certainly wasn’t Russell’s preference. He noted Saturday that everyone wants to be in a position to do their job.

“Of course I want to be out there,” he said.

But he didn’t earn that opportunity. Not with his play Saturday, not with his play throughout the first-round series, and frankly not with his play over the past couple of months. Over his final 14 appearances of the regular season, Russell averaged just 13.4 points a game, shooting 37 percent from the floor and 29 percent from deep. Over the back portion of the season, Russell had the Timberwolves’ worst defensive rating and net rating.

Then came a dynamic play-in performance against the Los Angeles Clippers that helped Minnesota punch its playoff ticket. But that turned out to be a blip on the radar and not a precursor to playoff success. Russell averaged 12 points and nearly three turnovers per game in the first-round loss, shooting 33 percent from the field.

Full Article

Timberwolves guard D’Angelo Russell injured, out 4-6 weeks

The Minnesota Timberwolves today announced the following injury updates on guards D’Angelo Russell and Jarrett Culver:

Russell, who has missed the last three games due to left leg soreness, will undergo arthroscopic surgery tomorrow to remove a loose body from the left knee. Russell will remain out between 4-6 weeks and further updates to his progress will be issued when available.

In 20 games (19 starts) this season, Russell is averaging 19.3 points on 42.6% shooting and 5.1 assists.

In the third quarter of the Monday, Jan. 25 game at Golden State, Culver sustained a left ankle sprain. As part of his ongoing rehab and reconditioning, Culver has been upgraded to on-court activity this week. He is expected to be reevaluated next week with potential to return to play late next week. Updates on his progress will be issued when available.

In 16 games (7 starts) this season, Culver is averaging 8.1 points on 45.9% shooting and 5.0 rebounds.

Timberwolves turnaround could take time

The Timberwolves finished this season with a 19-45 record, which in the Western Conference was only ahead of a very injured Warriors team that should certainly be far better in 2020-21. That leaves the Wolves at the bottom of the West, unless a dramatic roster shift happens. Here’s the St Paul Pioneer Press:

If no progression has been made, you could frame Year 1 of the Gersson Rosas campaign as a waste. Or you could say Rosas and Co. evaluated what they had last year, determined that wasn’t going to work, and decided it was necessary to start fresh with pieces this front office deemed a better fit with the desired direction of the franchise.

There are plenty of people out there who would say a core of D’Angelo Russell, Karl-Anthony Towns, potentially Malik Beasley and the No. 1 overall draft pick puts Minnesota ahead of where it was last October. There are plenty of others who look at another year of evaluation and development and ask, “are we really going to have to watch another year of this?” …

The Wolves like some of what they’ve seen in Jarrett Culver, Naz Reid, Jaylen Nowell, Jordan McLaughlin and Jarred Vanderbilt. What can they count on them to contribute in 2021? To be determined. It’s tough to see this roster contending for much soon.

For now, it seems like the Timberwolves should consider all possibilites in their rebuild. As talented as Towns and Russell are, no one on the roster should be deemed untouchable.

In-development Timberwolves would benefit if season continues

The NBA is currently deciding how to proceed regarding resuming play, possibly as early as mid or late July. It sounds increasingly likely that at the very least, we’ll hopefully get a 2019-20 postseason.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune:

If the Wolves are part of a restart, though, the main benefit would be a chance for the revamped Wolves — who dramatically made over their roster a month before the shutdown, adding D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley and a host of other players — to play together and gather momentum toward next season.

We’re all rooting for NBA play to resume. Which will only happen if the world in and out of sports becomes more and more safe.

Some insight on the state of the Timberwolves

Truly changing a franchise starts at the top. The front office dictates the direction. Then comes roster changes. Then comes player development, team chemistry, etc. Here’s the Minnesota Star Tribune reporting on the Timberwolves:

When Gersson Rosas became president of the Timberwolves, he promised to remake the roster by making it younger and finding talent that could play an up-tempo style of basketball. He added that one of the primary ways he would accomplish that was through trades.

Rosas wasn’t hiding much in those statements, because as Rosas marks his one-year anniversary on the job, the Wolves roster looks nothing like the one he inherited — and even nothing like the one he assembled after his first free-agent cycle. Just Josh Okogie and Karl-Anthony Towns remain from the roster Rosas inherited. Several came in the days preceding the trade deadline: Malik Beasley, Juancho Hernangomez, James Johnson and the apple of Rosas’ eye from the moment he took the job, D’Angelo Russell.

“Building an organization, building a foundation, the DNA and the values of who we’re going to be, I feel like we’ve done that in a very tangible way after Year 1,” Rosas said in a phone interview. “Rosterwise, our front office staff deserves a ton of credit because as we sit here, we’ve changed over 13 out of 15 roster spots. … That typically takes organizations two to three years. That we were able to do it by the trade deadline was quite an achievement for our staff.”

Right now, the Timberwolves core is Karl-Anthony Towns up front and D’Angelo Russell in the backcourt. Roster-wise, there’s much work to be done, and it won’t happen overnight.

D’Angelo Russell has brought mid-range jumpers to the Timberwolves

The mid-range jumper is a fascinating topic in the NBA these days. Many people frown upon it. But here’s the thing: It’s a good shot if the player shooting it is actually good at shooting mid-range jumpers, and takes them at the right time.

So, yes, it can be a good shot! And in other cases, it is not.

Your mind is blown, right?

Anyway, here’s the Minneapolis Star Tribune reporting:

The trade for D’Angelo Russell has meant the return of the mid-range jumper for the 2019-20 Wolves.

He’s attempted 13 shots from between 16 feet and the three point line in just four games with Minnesota, out of 71 total attempts – 18.3% of his total shots. Russell connected on just 1 of the first 7 of those before trying six more in Monday’s loss at Dallas – making three.

That 18.3% small sample size mark is higher than it was pre-trade with Golden State (14.3%) and his career mark (13.2%), but both those numbers would still be more than triple the Wolves’ team rate this season. All would also be far higher than the number posted with the Wolves this year by Andrew Wiggins (8.5%), the man Russell was traded for and a frequent long two hoister in previous seasons.

It’ll be fun watching Russell and center Karl-Anthony Towns develop chemistry as the season continues. And the question this summer will be, who will be alongside them.