NBA Free Agency 2019: 5 potential destinations for D’Angelo Russell

5. Brooklyn Nets

If it didn’t appear as though Kyrie Irving planned to sign with them, the Brooklyn Nets would be D’Angelo Russell’s most likely destination this summer.

With Russell leading the way, the Nets went 42-40 this past season and put up a respectable fight against the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the playoffs. Most of their top rotation members are already under contract for the 2019-20 season, so they could run back the same core and expect to make another postseason push next year.

Russell averaged a team- and career-high 21.1 points on 43.4 percent shooting this past season while chipping in 7.0 assists, 3.9 rebounds and 2.9 triples en route to his first-ever All-Star berth. Although the Sixers quickly adapted to him in the playoffs and exploited his struggles going right, that experience should help him address that weakness in his game this summer.

After the Sixers knocked the Nets out of the playoffs, Russell expressed his interest in returning to Brooklyn next season.

“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 already learned about the business side of the NBA the hard way when the Los Angeles Lakers traded him in 2017 to escape from Timofey Mozgov’s albatross of a contract. The Nets figure to keep Russell’s cap hold on their books until they’re able to lure a star sidekick for Irving (assuming he signs with them), but it appears as though they aren’t high on the long-term prospects of a Russell-Irving backcourt.