Los Angeles Lakers’ D’Angelo Russell will be signing a new contract as the current one expired on June 30. After being traded midseason by the Minnesota Timberwolves, the American professional played as a point guard for the Lakers.
There have been some leaks about his new deal with the Lakers and here’s all we know about it!
How much does D’Angelo Russell expect?
The 27-year-old was traded off to Lakers midseason since Timberwolves didn’t want to give the former All-Star a 4-year long extension worth $100M.
Now his contract expires this offseason, Russell was expecting to sign a $67.5M deal for 2 seasons, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN.
Nick Wright’s trade idea:
Lakers receive:
Andre WigginsWarriors receive:
D'Angelo Russell
Max Christie
2024 first-round pick(Via @getnickwright) pic.twitter.com/yi9GMfeimn
— NBA Centel (Parody) (@TheNBACentel) July 8, 2023
How did D’Angelo Russell perform last season?
The American point guard scored 967 points for the Minnesota Timberwolves in 54 games he played at an average of 17.9 per game.
He also scored 296 points for Los Angeles Lakers in 17 games he played after moving there mid-season, averaging 17.4 points per game.
Russell’s postseason was not up to the mark where he averaged 13.3 in the 16 games he played before getting knocked out by the Denver Nuggets in the finals of the Western Conference.
Can Lakers offer D’Angelo Russell $67.5M?
The Lakers aren’t expected to align with the expected $67.5M deal. They probably don’t think that D’Angelo Russell is somebody who’s worth more than $30M+ per year.
The Lakers have their eyes set on Austin Reaves’ extension, and Russell’s deal will be highly dependent on what the Lakers decide with Reaves.
#Sources — D’Angelo Russell has agreed on a two-year, $37 million contract to stay with the Los Angeles Lakers. #NBA
— NBATradeReport (@NBATradeReport) July 1, 2023
What might be the decision of D’Angelo Russell?
D’Angelo Russell hoped for a four year extension worth $100M with Timberwolves and would look forward to doing the same with Lakers as well.
The Lakers didn’t want to pay $30M+ for the American, and $25M might seem a bit too much as well, looking at his recent performances.
The LA Lakers are expected to offer him a $40M two-year extension with a non-guaranteed second year. Simply, it’d be a one-year deal that will allow them to trade Russell next season.
Most probably, D’Angelo Russell would stay with the Purple and Gold. It’d be an exciting extension or trade saga for sure.
