After a tease in 2019, D’Angelo Russell is reuniting with the Lakers.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Lakers finalized a three-team trade deal to obtain Russell, Malik Beasley, and Jarred Vanderbilt from the Minnesota Timberwolves.
In the complex trade, Minnesota gets back guards Mike Conley and Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and the Utah Jazz receive Russell Westbrook, Juan Toscano-Anderson, Damian Jones and a top-four protected 2027 first-round Lakers pick.
If the Lakers’ pick to the Jazz falls into the top four when the time comes, the pick will automatically change to a 2027 second-round pick, according to ESPN’s Zach Lowe.
This will mark Russell’s second stretch with the Lakers. He was drafted with the second-overall pick in 2015 and stayed in the West Coast city for his first two years in the league. Magic Johnson traded Russell to the Nets in 2017 for cheap, which created space to sign LeBron James and Lonzo Ball. He didn’t see Russell as a mature player, ready to lead the team.
The well-traveled Russell, who helped Minnesota stay competitive in the Western Conference, is averaging 17.9 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 6.2 assists per game this season. After beginning the first two seasons (2015-2017) of his career with the Lakers, Russell was then traded to the Nets from 2017-2019. He followed up his stint in Brooklyn by playing for the Toronto Raptors and Golden State Warriors in 2020. He was with the Timberwolves for the last three seasons.
It’s a shake up the Lakers seem to have been aching for. With the team struggling to keep itself in position for the play-in tournament in the West, James lobbied for Los Angeles to acquire his old pal Kyrie Irving, who was instead shipped to Dallas by the Nets on Sunday.
It also marks a much-needed change of scenery for Westbrook, who has averaged 15.9 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 7.5 assists in a bench role this season. The mercurial scorer reportedly got into a verbal altercation with coach Darvin Ham on Tuesday night — after James became the NBA’s all-time leading scorer — as trade rumors continued to swirl around him.
Westbrook likely will be bought out by the Jazz, according to multiple reports.
Now it will be Russell — a one-time All-Star and 2015-16 Rookie of the Year — instead of Westbrook aiming to help James and Anthony Davis climb back into the playoff race and make another title run after winning it all in 2020.