Many Dallas Mavericks fans’ eyes tend to glaze over and roll out the back of their heads when the possibility of signing the fossilized remains of Chris Paul as a stop-gap point guard while Kyrie Irving recovers from a torn ACL in his left knee is mentioned.
But ESPN’s Shams Charania dropped two names on Tuesday night’s SportsCenter that should have us all rooting for the fossilized remains to be reanimated and clad in Mavericks’ blue and green as soon as possible.
Charania would like to interest you in (please, God, no) D’Angelo Russell or Malcolm Brogdon. He reported earlier in the day that Kyrie Irving would decline his $43 million player option for the upcoming 2025-26 season and sign a new three-year deal (two years with a player option) that would decrease his salary cap hit to $37 million next season.
The move would open up space for the Mavs to use the mid-level exception to sign a point guard to play a starting role while Irving recovers. After Dallas bowed out (not so gracefully) of April’s Play-In tournament, Charania reported that team sources had expressed optimism that Irving could return from that injury as soon as January 2026.
Irving continues to play nice with the Mavs front office, which brings us to the Russell/Brogdon Choose Your Own Adventure free-agency scenario and the latest installment of “Overheard in the MMB Slack Chat” Theater.
Joined @notthefakeSVP on the Celtics' incoming calls on Jaylen Brown and Derrick White as they shed $180 million in taxes over 24 hours — plus Kyrie Irving explains his Dallas commitment: pic.twitter.com/R4NcbvpFLw
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 25, 2025
“Dlo comes here and B-Will will be the starter by Thanksgiving,” went one of the immediate takes from a contributor who will remain nameless.
Russell was traded from the Los Angeles Lakers to the Brooklyn Nets, along with Maxwell Lewis and three second-round NBA Draft picks in December for Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton. He previously played with the Nets from 2017-2019. He averaged 12.6 points and 5.1 assists in 58 games for the Nets and Lakers last year. His two-year, $36 million contract is no more, and he’ll be thankful to take a significant pay cut on his next stop, starting with his age-29 season this fall.
Russell’s lackluster effort on the defensive end and his inability to create offense efficiently, combined with a tendency to stop all ball movement the moment he touches the ball, make him a reclamation project among reclamation projects. His record of folding in big moments will follow Russell wherever he goes, but maybe, just maybe, the Mavs brass can trick themselves into thinking that a change of scenery is all he needs, right? He’s already had plenty. Russell has already played for four different teams and had two different stints with two of those four. He’s toxic.
Usually, becoming a free agent at age 29 means you’re looking to earn a giant-sized payday. Russell’s career (Who among us?) is headed in the other direction. “Is this guy washed?” is a question more commonly associated with Russell than “Can this guy be a productive piece on a winning team?”
Let’s move on to Brogdon, because the prospect of watching Russell bring the ball up for my Dallas Mavericks makes me pine for the days of Erick Strickland or Tony Dumas.
Brogdon will turn 33 in December, and he played in just 24 games for the Washington Wizards last year. He suffered a torn ligament in his right thumb before the season started, delaying his first appearance with the Wizards until Nov. 17. He had to be helped off the court after suffering an ankle injury against the Indiana Pacers on Feb. 12 and didn’t play again. Brogdon averaged 12.7 points and 4.1 assists in 24 games for the Wizards and hit just 28.6% of his 3-point attempts, so he’d be coming off a disappointing season bookended by significant injury setbacks.
But, hey, at least in Brogdon’s case, questions about being washed are a little closer to par for the course after age 32.
Safe to say, we don’t love either option. Is there any chance the Mavericks’ front office just floated these two names to Charania to make Paul more palatable? Paul made just under $11 million last year with the San Antonio Spurs. Might some other team be willing to pay a little more than the mid-level exception for his services in his age-40 season? Are the likes of Russell and Brogdon the best the Mavs can hope for while Irving is on the shelf?
I hate it here.