It feels like such a distant memory at this point, but D'Angelo Russell started off 2024-25 wearing a Los Angeles Lakers jersey. In only a few weeks, the now Dallas Mavericks point guard could be looking for a fitting on some new threads yet again.
Dec. 15 marks the date when many of the offseason signings from 2025 free agency will officially have their trade restrictions lifted. Russell, who joined the Mavericks on a two-year deal worth around $11.7 million, could very easily be one of those players to whom that checkpoint on the calendar really matters.
The former Lakers guard has been lackluster with his new team. The Mavericks have been just as bad on the whole, rearranging the front office, and now mulling over a rebuild to fit the Cooper Flagg timeline.
Russell, who will be 30 years old in February, certainly has very little to offer that kind of situation at this point of his career. There is a high chance the former second overall pick will be traded before the deadline passes. If he is, that will be the fourth team in just two seasons for the veteran guard.
Lakers fully unlocked the journeyman stage of D'Angelo Russell's career
Many NBA players will eventually hit that point of their career when buying a long-term home upon joining a new team really does not make sense for them anymore. Russell has gotten to that stage, and the Lakers were the ones who started the journey.
After Los Angeles gave up on him again, and traded him away to the Brooklyn Nets, it was a loud statement about whether they believed Russell could be a contributor to winning basketball in a primary role. Dallas did not heed the warning.
The Mavericks wanted a stopgap at point guard to hold them over until Kyrie Irving was healthy again. They made the call to Russell in free agency, hoping that was their guy to do it. To the surprise of no one in Los Angeles, it did not work out for Dallas.
Russell has not even been a full-time starter for the Mavericks this season. Dallas was forced into weird experimentation with Flagg at the point guard spot. It went about as well as one would expect, with the Mavericks having one of the worst offensive ratings in the NBA.
There may be another team that talks themselves into Russell being a solution, to some capacity, for their roster's problems before the end of the year. When that moment happens, the pattern started by the Lakers will continue.