Golden State Warriors: Will D’Angelo Russell stick around long-term

Bob Myers and the Golden State Warriors made a great move by acquiring guard D’Angelo Russell, but will he stay with the Warriors long-term?

Many teams in the NBA would be left in ruins if their teams best player left via free agency. In the case of the Golden State Warriors, the departure of star forward Kevin Durant left them as anything but shaken.

General manager Bob Myers and the Warriors front office recovered quite nicely by acquiring 2019 all-star and former Brooklyn Nets point guard D’Angelo Russell. Russell was signed to a contract worth a whopping $117 million over four years.

Russell will look to make up for the lack of scoring that the injury of guard Klay Thompson will bring for Golden State, which is what makes it such a good move. However, as with most injuries, players recover, and according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Thompson is expected to make a full recovery.

With Thompson potentially coming back around March at the latest, Russell gives the Warriors the ability to stay patient with Thompson’s recovery. Past that, however, the future becomes unclear.

Once Thompson returns, it will be interesting to see where Golden State goes. Trying to play small and keeping Russell in the starting line up once Thompson comes back could prove to be a defensive problem for coach Steve Kerr.

However, Russell is simply too good of a player to be left on the bench and with the pricey contract he was just given, doing so would be an interesting use of funds for the Warriors.

As many would be left to believe, this leaves the Warriors with the option of putting Russell on the trade market, which, despite what the team is saying, might be the way they end up going.

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According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, the Warriors have “a long term vision for Russell” and believe that “he fits great alongside Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson.”

Some may allude to Golden State’s “Death Lineup” which featured the smaller-sized rotation of Curry, Thompson,  Draymond Green, Durant, and recently traded star Andre Iguodala when trying to justify a place for Russell on the court with Thompson back in the picture.

The issue with that argument is that Russell would likely play the same role that Iguodala played in that lineup. Iguodala is a much better perimeter defender than Russell, which, combined with Igoudala’s timely shooting, was a huge part of the Warriors success for the past four seasons.

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Perhaps the Warriors are hoping for a vice-versa type situation with Russell and his prolific scoring which saw him average 21.1 points a game with Brooklyn.

Whatever the Warriors decide to do with Russell, the move should be praised for many different reasons.

The fact that Durant and his camp helped to make it happen along with the fact that it came so quickly after his departure is quite impressive considering most front offices would have packed things up for the day.

Russell will either be a productive player for the Warriors or be someone who will eventually bring in assets that allow Golden State to fill out the roster.

Until the Warriors’ decision comes, however, Dubs fans should be excited to see Russell in a Warriors uniform next season.