Once again, this time to Brian Lewis, D’Angelo Russell expressed his desire to return, but how likely is it?
There are few certainties about the Brooklyn Nets roster come next October 10 when they will face off against the Phoenix Suns in their preseason opener at the Venetian Hotel complex in Macao, China.
There are the five picks — if all of them get used — and all that salary cap space. Then there are the three unrestricted free agents, the four young players on team options, et cetera. But there is one thing that seems set: D’Angelo Russell wants to be in black-and-white when the team runs on to the court that night, 8,000 miles and 12 hours away.
For the second time in five days, D’Lo has made it clear that he likes where he’s at in Brooklyn, just as he did back in 2017-19. He’s been a basketball vagabond since and he’d like to be part of Sean Marks’ second rebuild just as he was the first.
After talking with Mike Scotto of Hoopshype last week, Scotto spoke to Brian Lewis of the Post before Saturday’s game vs. the Celtics. As Lewis wrote:
D’Angelo Russell would love to be back in Brooklyn. But would Brooklyn love to have Russell back?
That’s the multimillion-dollar question.
At the moment, he told Lewis that he doesn’t know the answer but remains optimistic.
“I don’t think it’s in my control, to be honest,” Russell told Lewis. “I’ve been on the team before where everybody was free agents, too. So they’ve got the leverage, they’ve got the cards. If they decide to bring me back, cool. If not, we’ll figure it out…
“I don’t think I’ve ever been a free agent. I look back on it, I’ve never been. For me, it’s a weird feeling, but see how it goes. I signed an extension with the Lakers, two years — one-plus-one, player option. I just never hit (free agency). So I’m excited to see.”
Russell, now 28, returned to the Nets at the New Year, the big return in a trade that saw the Lakers acquire Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton for him, Maxwell Lewis and three second rounders. Despite some ankle woes, he’s played mostly well in his point guard role, his assists per 100 possessions skyrocketing after his move from L.A. to New York. However, his shooting splits in his 23 games in Brooklyn — 38/30/83 — have been subpar, indeed the worst of his career. How much of that is the result of those ankle woes is a big question.
There’s no question he wants back. In his interview with Scotto and in post-game discussions with the media, Russell has praised Jordi Fernandez calling him at one point a “genius,” particularly at getting his players ready despite injuries, roster turnover, etc.
As he said to Scotto, he believes he has a great relationship with Fernandez and serves as an intermediary between the head coach and the young roster.
“I try to reiterate Jordi’s messages as much as I can. He speaks what he means. As a young group, it can go through one ear and out the other, so I try to be another voice on the team that can relay his message and lead by example.”
Indeed, he seems to relish the role of locker room leader, telling Scotto that he’s told the head coach that he may not be the scorer he once was, he remains a basketball player first and foremost.
“I told Jordi today for him to trust me and allow me to be a basketball player and not just a shot maker,’ he said last seek. “If my shots aren’t falling, he still trusts me to be out there to make plays. I respect that more than anything. I’ve been kind of categorized as a guy who only makes shots, but being a basketball player is my strength.”
On Saturday, he again adopted the leadership role in talking about Cam Thomas going down for the season, praising the development of Thomas’ game.
“You could see his progression, see him understand the game better, playmaking coming alive. It sucks to go down,” D’Lo told Lewis. “Missing games allowed him to see the game from a different lens & implement it (but) nobody want to see anybody get hurt.”
But free agency is going to be complicated. While the Nets lead the league in future draft picks (31), including tradeable first round picks (12) and cap space (a minimum of $60+ million,) it remains uncertain how they will use it all and you can be sure that’s just the way the Nets brass want it.
Russell is earning $18.7 million on his expiring deal this season, but as Steve Lichtenstein pointed out recently, his contract also carries a big cap hold. There are advantages and disadvantages.
Russell will have an approximately $28 million cap hold this offseason, which might be useful if Marks has another sign-and-trade up his sleeve for the summer. Otherwise, it’s hard to envision that the Nets would bring him back (I’m not sure a Russell/Cam Thomas backcourt will jive with Head Coach Jordi Fernandez’s defensive mandates), in which case that cap hold is an obstacle to their vision for the near future.
Lewis has speculated that the Nets could give him a short-term contract — perhaps a one-year deal or a two-year with a team option — that would kick a lot of their cap space down the road to the summer of 2026 when the free agent market will be better.
There is little cap space available to GMs around the league this summer as teams try to avoid luxury taxes and aprons. The MLE will be around $14 million but not every team will have access to it because of CBA restrictions (the Nets will.) So, as Russell said, all the cards in Brooklyn are held by the team.
Just another question for those six months between April and October.