How Nets use DAngelo Russell could signal plan…
Nets followers ought to keep an eye on D’Angelo Russell for the remaining of this common season.
He may be the climate vane to reveal what the workforce plans this offseason.
Russell returned to the courtroom — scoring 12 factors and handing out 4 assists in 25 minutes — for Tuesday’s 127-113 loss in San Antonio after lacking the prior 5 video games with a sprained ankle.
It marked simply the second time since his arrival three months in the past that the Nets had their most popular backcourt, Russell and Cam Thomas, enjoying collectively.
Watching the pair not recognized for his or her protection match into a workforce enjoying onerous on that finish of the courtroom ought to be fascinating.
D’Angelo Russell makes a transfer in opposition to the Spurs on Tuesday night time in San Antonio. Getty Images
But not almost as fascinating as what ends up occurring with Russell.
Nobody can say with certainty what the Nets’ offseason plans are.
They’re probably not even set, with no thought the place they’re drafting or who is out there in commerce.
But watching what occurs with Russell can provide some indicators on whether or not they’re going big-game (and big-name) searching, or extending the tank one other yr.
After transport out level guard Dennis Schroder on Dec. 15 — the primary day of the unofficial trading season — Brooklyn GM Sean Marks dealt Dorian Finney-Smith to the Lakers for Russell.
But they didn’t purchase Russell to exchange Schroder’s pick-and-roll prowess, however as a result of Russell has an expiring contract that match into Finney-Smith’s, and Russell got here with three second-round picks hooked up.
Nets guard D’Angelo Russell surveys the courtroom in opposition to the Spurs on Tuesday. Russell handed out 4 assists within the loss. Imagn Images
But Russell — whose 8.7 assists per 100 possessions with the Lakers had been his worst since his rookie season — has handed out a dozen per 100 since becoming a member of the Nets, the best in his profession by a large margin.
With the ball in his palms and a management function, Russell is believed to have advised these round him he desires to remain.
He scored 12 with 4 assists in Tuesday’s loss.
And regardless of the rebuild, the Nets maintaining him round appears a lot more probably than it did when he first arrived three months in the past.
Yes, the Nets have essentially the most cap space within the league at over $60 million.
But what was as soon as a loaded free agent class has seen superstars Anthony Davis, Jayson Tatum, Jimmy Butler, Donovan Mitchell, Damian Lillard — and even standouts like Brandon Ingram, Lauri Markkanen, Rudy Gobert and Jamal Murray — come off the board with current extensions.
Yes, Marks — who used to weaponize offer sheets in his first rebuild — could use cap space on restricted free brokers like Jonathan Kuminga or Josh Giddey.
But the GM could kick the can down the street a yr, extending the tank one other season and punting his cap space into 2026.
Devin Vassell of the San Antonio Spurs makes a basket over D’Angelo Russell #1 of the Brooklyn Nets within the second half at Frost Bank Center on March 4, 2025 in San Antonio, Texas. Getty Images
If he does, a technique is giving Russell a one-year deal, or a two-year contract with a workforce option.
With the Nets sitting on a trove of cap space virtually as large as the remaining of the league mixed — Detroit is the one different workforce prone to have more than the mid-level exception — Russell’s suitors can be restricted.
And if no star who the Nets intend to pursue turns into out there this summer season by way of commerce — Giannis Antetokounmpo, LaMelo Ball, Trae Young, and so on. — then a short-term reunion could make sense for each events.
Tuesday marked Russell’s first recreation since Feb. 20.
He got here in averaging 13.8 factors and 5.8 assists for the Nets, and since arriving simply after New Year’s, they had been 8-9 with him, however a horrid 1-10 with out him and his playmaking.
That contains dropping the earlier 4 heading into the Spurs recreation.
D’Angelo Russell of the Brooklyn Nets handles the ball during the sport in opposition to the San Antonio Spurs on March 4, 2025 on the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas. NBAE by way of Getty Images
But Brooklyn received the one recreation Russell and Thomas suited up collectively, a Jan. 2 victory at Milwaukee being one of their more spectacular outcomes.
Russell handed out his Nets season-high 12 assists in beating the Bucks.
But Thomas suffered a hamstring damage that stored him sidelined till final week, with the pair not sharing the ground till Tuesday night time.
How Russell meshes with Thomas — a restricted free agent himself — over the remaining of the season can be intriguing.
But not as intriguing as what Russell’s destiny alerts for the offseason.
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