{"id":129067,"date":"2025-03-16T23:58:29","date_gmt":"2025-03-17T03:58:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=129067"},"modified":"2025-03-16T23:58:29","modified_gmt":"2025-03-17T03:58:29","slug":"nets-guard-dangelo-russell-free-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/03\/16\/nets-guard-dangelo-russell-free-agency\/","title":{"rendered":"Nets Guard On Second Stint Prefers Brooklyn Long-Term"},"content":{"rendered":"

The future is uncertain for the majority of the\u00a0<\/span>Brooklyn Nets<\/span><\/a>\u00a0roster, including point guard\u00a0<\/span>D’Angelo Russell<\/span><\/a>, who is presently on his second stint with the franchise. D’Lo went from\u00a0<\/span>Los Angeles<\/span><\/a>\u00a0to Brooklyn once already and went through the same scenario earlier in the season. With his contract expiring this year, D’Lo will\u00a0<\/span>hit free agency in the summer, and<\/span><\/a>while he has a strong desire to remain in Brooklyn, he knows it’s not entirely up to him. Considering the trajectory the franchise is on with the intent of rebuilding starting this offseason, there’s no guarantee Russell will be included.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nets Guard On Second Stint Prefers Brooklyn Long-Term<\/h2>\n

Brooklyn Nets Guard D’Angelo Russell Wants to Stay in Town With Impending Free Agency Ahead<\/h3>\n

Russell’s expiring contract is worth $18.7 million. It was almost inevitable that if he had remained with the Lakers this season, he would be playing elsewhere to start the 2025-26 season. His future in LA was not looking good, as the sand in his hourglass was draining quickly. The Lakers ended up shipping him back to Brooklyn, so his future is now in their hands, as opposed to the Lakers’. It was in Brooklyn that Russell nabbed his one and only All-Star selection in the 2018-19 season. The Nets also had a solid season that same year. While Russell isn’t the player he was back then, since arriving back in Brooklyn, he’s been a capable leader and contributor, averaging 13.3 points and 5.7 assists. However, he’s had a rough shooting year split between Los Angeles and Brooklyn. From the three-point line, he’s shooting only 30.1%, and from the field, 38.3%.<\/p>\n

D’Lo’s outlook on the future is at least in check, though. He’s entering a new phase of his career as a free agent, which is a place he’s never been. If it’s not in Brooklyn, he just wants to play somewhere in speaking with Brian Lewis of the New York Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s in my control, to be honest,<\/em>\u201d Russell said. \u201cI\u2019ve been on the team before where everybody was free agents, too. So they\u2019ve got the leverage, they\u2019ve got the cards. If they decide to bring me back, cool. If not, we\u2019ll figure it out…I just want to be in the NBA.\u00a0I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever been a free agent. I look back on it, I\u2019ve never been. For me, it\u2019s a weird feeling, but see how it goes. I signed an extension with the Lakers, two years \u2014 one-plus-one, player option. I just never hit [free agency]. So I\u2019m excited to see.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

What’s Next For the Nets?<\/h3>\n

Dennis Schr\u00f6der<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>Dorian Finney-Smith<\/span><\/a>, and\u00a0<\/span>Shake Milton<\/span><\/a>\u00a0are notable players who have already exited Brooklyn this season. Leading up to the trade deadline, it was rumored that\u00a0<\/span>Cam Thomas<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>Cameron Johnson<\/span><\/a>, and\u00a0<\/span>Nic Claxton<\/span><\/a>\u00a0were also on the trade block. None of them were traded, but their futures, like Russell’s, are also uncertain. If the same three players are available during the summer, each will have suitors, Claxton especially. Given his position and several teams hunting for centers earlier in the season, they might pick up the hunt again with him as a target. What’s next for several members of the Nets roster is up in the air; what’s next for the Nets? A significant rebuild.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a9 Scott Kinser-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The future is uncertain for the majority of the\u00a0Brooklyn Nets\u00a0roster, including point guard\u00a0D’Angelo Russell, who is presently on his second stint with the franchise. D’Lo went from\u00a0Los Angeles\u00a0to Brooklyn once already and went through the same scenario earlier in the season. With his contract expiring this year, D’Lo will\u00a0hit free agency in the summer, andwhile […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5081,"featured_media":129068,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,6,62],"tags":[4069,1899,307,252,2272,4581,3811],"class_list":["post-129067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-nets","category-nba","tag-cam-thomas","tag-cameron-johnson","tag-dangelo-russell","tag-dennis-schroder","tag-dorian-finney-smith","tag-nic-claxton","tag-shake-milton"],"modified_by":"Aaron J Zacharias","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5081"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129067"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129067\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":129071,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129067\/revisions\/129071"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}