With the Lakers earning the second overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, D’Angelo Russell has already become a part of trade rumors. Here are five possible landing spots.
After all the possibilities of losing their lottery pick to the Philadelphia 76ers if they landed outside the top three, the Los Angeles Lakers held on to the second overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft.
Now the Lakers may have some thinking to do. They have been rumored to be pursuing UCLA’s Lonzo Ball with their pick and may have to trade up to the first overall pick with the Boston Celtics to get that done.
In all of the pick drama, rumors have come up about what the team will do with star point guard and No. 2 overall pick from 2015, D’Angelo Russell. Almost immediately after the NBA Draft Lottery, it was reported that “multiple teams are evaluating trade packages” for Russell, and we could see him moved shortly if the team looks to move up in the draft or looks to create space for a potential Ball pick.
Obviously, when any trade rumors pop up, it’s time to look at the possibilities of where someone could land. For that reason, here are five potential landing spots for Russell, should he get traded.
5. San Antonio Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs provide a unique opportunity for a trading partner with the Lakers, but it’s the least likely of the five options, given the Spurs’ current draft pick situation.
The team is almost in a rebuilding process currently, as they deal with the departure of Tim Duncan from last season, an injury to current and longtime Spur point guard Tony Parker and the possible loss of Manu Ginobili after this postseason. Ginobili is already 39 years old and is rumored to be retiring, and Parker recently suffered a bad injury against the Houston Rockets in the conference semifinals and is 34 years old.
The team is loaded with Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge currently, but will need to plan for the future soon. Russell would be a good fit for the Spurs at point guard and would fit in cap-wise with a rookie deal.
Russell would help the team load up with talent to make a true run at a championship and could help the team actually compete with the Golden State Warriors for years to come, if they could keep the trio together. However, the true problem would be getting the deal done.
The Spurs shot themselves in the foot by doing so well and won’t have any high draft picks to deal. They’ll likely need to give up some solid talent, and even some future draft picks, to even make the deal a possibility. It may not be worth it in the end but would provide a unique option for the Lakers to pursue with their star point guard.
4. Toronto Raptors
The Toronto Raptors may be in desperate need of a point guard with their situation with Kyle Lowry crumbling, and it may be smart to let Lowry walk to pursue Russell.
Lowry has decided to opt out of his contract with the Raptors for the upcoming season and will look at other options in free agency. Ironically, Lowry could find himself negotiating with the Lakers if Russell gets moved elsewhere, and maybe the Raptors will pursue Russell knowing Lowry is on his way out.
Russell would benefit greatly from going to the Raptors roster, as he’d get to learn from a veteran stud like DeMar DeRozan and be a part of a truly successful team that earned the third seed in the Eastern Conference this season.
Meanwhile, the Raptors would get some cap relief for someone who is a lot cheaper and who could turn out to be better than Lowry when their careers are over. Lowry has been riddled with injuries throughout his time in Toronto, and Russell would provide a healthy alternative for a potentially large loss for the Raptors.
The Raptors, like the Spurs, don’t have high draft picks to trade, and maybe lost their chance to send over an easy asset like Lowry by waiting too long to pull the trigger on a trade. The smart thing to do, in hindsight, would have been to send Lowry to the Lakers at the trade deadline a few months ago for Russell, but that ship sailed.
Overall, the Raptors would be a unique fit for Russell, but he may be a bit too much for the Raptors to pursue at this point with their current roster.
3. Oklahoma City Thunder
With Russell Westbrook taking up a lot of cap space on an Oklahoma City Thunder roster that can’t fly much higher than it did this season, it may be time to shake things up by bringing in a different “Russell”.
With the rumors swirling about Russell, the Lakers may be the team to help the Thunder blow things up with their roster. Obviously wouldn’t be plausible to just send Russell, a player entering his third season in a few months, straight up for Westbrook, a player who just averaged a triple-double for an entire season. However, the Lakers have their number two pick to trade, and would get a star-studded player to rebuild around if they traded Russell and the pick to Los Angeles.
The Thunder don’t have draft picks to trade, but it wouldn’t make sense to keep Westbrook and trade everyone for Russell anyway. In the end, they could completely relieve their cap space, get a solid young star in the making and begin a true rebuild outside of the world of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook.
The Thunder have peaked with Westbrook and couldn’t make it past the Houston Rockets with just their star point guard. In the end, it may be time to pull a Philadelphia 76ers-esque tank job and work toward building up a new, younger roster. It may take a couple of years, and it’ll take some money to keep Russell that long, but it’d be worth it in the end.
2. New York Knicks
The New York Knicks could actually make a deal for D’Angelo Russell work with their current roster and their draft pick situation.
The team is loaded with guys like Carmelo Anthony and Kristaps Porzingis, and it holds the eighth pick in the 2017 NBA Draft. They have the assets to send over to the Lakers and would get a solid return should they send over the right guys to L.A.
The Lakers could pull off a deal for Anthony, who has been in the rumor mill seemingly forever as someone who wants to leave the Knicks and as someone the team wants gone. Anthony would provide star power and a veteran presence on an incredibly young roster and would help bring some legitimacy back to the Lakers after the loss of Kobe Bryant.
The Knicks would benefit greatly from this entire situation, and it may be worth giving up their top 10 pick in this year’s draft for such a great asset. With Porzingis feeling some woes with the Knicks because of the drama with Anthony, adding Russell to help load up the Knicks for a potential run would be huge to keeping their star center around.
The team would likely need to give up Anthony and/or its pick to get the best possible situation out of the deal (though ideally just Anthony), and the Knicks could set themselves up greatly for their future while eliminating some of the baggage on their roster. It’d provide a great replacement for Rose and give the team some cap relief in the end.
1. Philadelphia 76ers
Well, what better way to “Trust the Process” than by adding in a true star like Russell?
The Philadelphia 76ers are already built up on lottery pick talent, like Joel Embiid, Jahlil Okafor and the eventual return of Ben Simmons from injury. The team has the third overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft after swapping with the Sacramento Kings, and has all the tools to send over to the Lakers for Russell.
The Sixers are in need of a point guard, and have been rumored to be pursuing Kyle Lowry in free agency this summer, looking to bring the hometown boy back to Philly. While bringing in a star and a veteran like Lowry may be a good move for such a young roster, why not save the cap space and add in a young gun like Russell?
It would obviously take the third pick to pry Russell away from the Lakers, and would likely require a few more picks if they were hoping to keep all of their talent in Philadelphia. However, it would make sense to bring some immediate success in, rather than use the pick to bring in an untested guard from the 2017 draft class.
Meanwhile, the Lakers get the number three pick to go along with the second pick in the draft, and would have plenty of options from there. They could either take Lonzo Ball at number two, and draft another rookie talent with the third, or even trade up a pick for the first overall from the Celtics to get Ball, and potentially still have another top five pick laying in wait.
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The move would benefit both teams immediately, and would provide a good fit for Russell in the process, all while loading the Lakers up with real, young talent for their rebuild.