D’Angelo Russell is available to teams in a trade if anyone wants to make an offer to the Los Angeles Lakers.
On the latest episode of Buha’s Block (starts at 16:30 mark), The Athletic’s Jovan Buha said the Lakers have been shopping Russell around in trades since he opted in to his contract for $18.7 million next season.
It’s hardly a surprise that the Lakers are trying to move Russell. He was assumed to be on the trade block as soon as he opted in because they didn’t have many other paths to improve their roster.
LeBron James was willing to take a discount contract to free up the full mid-level exception of $12.9 million if the Lakers would have been able to sign an “impact player.”
When the Lakers missed out on Klay Thompson, a significant discount for James went out the window. He did sign for $2.7 million less than his max to keep the Lakers out of the second apron, but that only left them $45,000 below that threshold.
Even though Russell is playing on an expiring contract, teams aren’t necessarily looking to trade assets only for long-term financial savings.
Buha recently said that Russell is among several current Lakers players with “somewhere between neutral to negative trade value across the league.”
Russell is coming off one of his best seasons in the NBA. The 28-year-old averaged 18.0 points on 41.5 percent three-point shooting and 6.3 assists per game in 76 appearances.
Historically, though, Russell has been a streaky shooter and a ball-dominant point guard who doesn’t always look to his teammates for help.
If the Lakers want to get anything of significant value for Russell, they might be better off going into the 2024-25 season with him on the roster. This will allow other teams to assess their rosters before deciding if it’s in their best interest to stay on their current path or make a move for an expiring contract to clear cap space for next summer.