Just when you thought the Warriors had lost Kevin Durant for nothing, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting that Golden State and the Brooklyn Nets have agreed to a sign-and-trade for Durant that will send D'Angelo Russell to the Bay Area.
The Warriors were going to lose Durant for nothing and they had no money or assets that are attractive enough to replace him. Now, out of the rabbit's hat, they get a 23-year-old All-Star who was on the shortlist for a max deal with a lot of teams.
losing Iguodala isn't nothing. He's still a huge player come playoff time. But he's on the downslope, and again, the Warriors, who just signed Klay Thompson to a max deal and may have to do the same for Draymond Green next summer, weren't going to be able to get younger talent for a good chunk of time. To get Russell is beyond amazing. He's a guy lesser teams would legitimately consider building their team around.
There will be other casualties from this deal. Because of luxury tax implications and the fact that the Warriors are hard capped at just shy of $140 million after the Russell trade, DeMarcus Cousins is almost surely gone. Kevon Looney, too. Quinn Cook and Jordan Bell could follow. Shaun Livingston, too. So on this sense, Russell is far from free. But you take him over any one of those guys in a hot second, and obviously the Warriors decided he was worth more than most of them combined.
Memphis would get the 2024 pick protected Nos. 1-4 in that year, protected to No. 1 in 2025 and unprotected in 2026 if the pick still hasn't been conveyed, league sources told ESPN.
"I definitely want to be here," he told reporters. "But I also know it's a business, too. So I'm not going to play that role like I don't know what could possibly happen."
Russell has career averages of 16.5 points and 5.1 rebounds, while shooting 41.9% from the field and 35.3% from 3-point range over four NBA seasons.
