D'Angelo Russell Discussion: Adopting A Professional Attitude

Unfortunately for D.Lo the playoffs happened - Murray is coming off a major knee injury and before the knee injury he was sensational in the playoffs.

Brogdon has the advantage of being the number 1 guy for Indiana for awhile and is coming off winning 6 MOY while D.Lo with the Wolves was at best a 3rd option. On the Lakers, every team can see he's even further down the pecking order as a clear #4.

When you break it down - it just doesn't look very good for him. PG is a very deep position in the NBA

 

$25 million per year on a shorter deal (2 or maybe 3 years) is optimal for me. Doesn’t break the bank and we could look to trade him during the season if he starts off strong. I’m skeptical that he’ll ever be a reliable playoff performer so I’d jump on the opportunity to sell “high” if that’s ever possible.

 

yeah, i just don't really see how you look at that list and conclude that 20-25 million is a big overpay for russell. 30 is. 25 is maybe a little. 20 most definitely isn't, imo.

and particularly when you look at what our options would be to replace him given our current assets...i mean, you're looking at taking guys like paul or lowry, who make more and whose teams would like to move off of them because they're less effective than russell.

i just think the market plus his great fit here mean we need to make sure our initial offer isn't insulting. i think 4/70 would be that.

 

Don't think anyone is going to give Lowry or Paul this kind of money either now . Murray is only at 16 million as a counter-example as well. His previous contract is serving as an expectations anchor for his agent but the NBA which team other than the Lakers is going to offer him a White like contract. For an up and coming team, you don't want a guy who doesn't play defense and whose basketball IQ is questionable to be a mentor. A playoff contender is going to be scared after what we just witnessed. The market seems to be dumb teams like Washington who never seem to have a viable plan.

Honestly just don't see another team offering that big deal who has cap space. He'd be a great fit for what Houston was doing last year but Udoka doesn't seem like a Russell guy and I don't think that is a coach he would want to play for. Indiana has Halliburton so nope. Detroit has Cade so nope. He's definitely not a Pop kind of player. Who are the Lakers bidding against?

 

no, but i'm saying that's who we'd be looking at to fill the hole if russell walked or in a s&t.

sure, but we can play this game all day. there are always going to be underpaid and overpaid players (and murray's next contract will likely be north of 30 per).

i agree that it's unlikely someone offers him a huge sum. i just think there's a legitimate chance that an offer below 20 per unnecessarily burns a bridge, creating a schroder situation. everyone loses there. we have no path to a better guard than russell without creating the need to fill other roster holes that would create. we need to come to a number that both sides can live with. if you start getting down to 4/70, teams with a full mle can get close to that first year salary, and he could take it and try his hand again in FA. it might go like schroder, there, too. but i still contend that schroder walking for nothing hurt our roster flexibility more than schroder signing at 23 per would have.

 

How about 4/75? A little under 19 million a year: I think that is very fair offer all things considered

 

sure. what we think is fair matters little, though. i'm saying i totally get it if we just go 4/100. it's a slight overpay, but it evades headaches of all sorts. i think squeezing everything out of the negotiations is the boston way. but we got AD and they didn't (related). and we got a ring and they didn't (also related).

 

I think this matters for a true star like AD and Lebron. With DLo my worry of giving up 5 million a year (i.e. at 25 vs 20) and the Buss family may decide that is the difference between keeping a guy like Caruso or not.

 

I'm good with paying him that. If things goes as they should the ball will be in Austin's hands much more. Dlo can hit some threes, help keep the ball moving and give his best effort on defense. Seemed decent at pulling down a few boards. Most of the time he paired well with Austin. He is a good regular season guy and that is important. If we can give Lebron and AD some rest and still win some of those games that would be extremely beneficial. A decent playoff seedings and staying out of those dreaded play in games would be huge. If we can go in as a top four seed which we should be able to do and have reasonably healthy superstars Dlo will be worth it. Max is going to be eating minutes and if we draft smart we will have a rookie ready to step in as well by playoff time. If Dlo does wither in the playoffs again it won't be as critical. He is a pretty good cheerleader too.

 

I think 4/100 would make him tough to move. It's a big commitment in terms of years and a 25 million contract in the books is big, it narrows down the amount of players you can trade for (or that teams would be willing to give for such a long contract)

If 4 years, I would want to be in the 20s. If more than that, I would reduce the years

 

25 isn’t that big. We’re expected to have 15m cap increases yearly to 2025-2026. That’s a 170m cap by then. It won’t be much more than the full MLE in 3 years.

 

yeah, but if we're still doing stuff like that, russell's contract is the least of our concerns.

 

Buha on the DLO options

 

Buha with a very similar read to my opinion. Just don't see a big market him for either a big FA or a sign and trade. I suspect he's going to get a contract in that 18-20 million range from teh Lakers and both sides are going to have to live with each other's failings (DLo not getting as much as he wants, Lakers have to figure out how to structure the team so that he doesn't become an anchor in the playoffs)

 

I'm liking this Buha guy more. Fair take.

Who exactly is DLO going to get to pay him that much? Just seems unlikely to me. I may let him sweat a little on the sidelines in free agency. If he walks, he walks.

 

I don't see teams lining up to sign DLO. By now, he is who he is, a regular season starter. I would offer him 4/80 and that's it. Unless there's a deal in place...

 

Sam Quinn on DLO's market and a potential salary that would make sense for both parties

 

2/40 would be a huge win for us, imo. i'm not as down on him as apparently everyone else is. getting a mixture of kuz and schroder vibes. we lost in both of those situations.

 

Thanks for the shares JSM.

Hopefully we could get that 2/40m deal locked up as it would provide us and DLo flexibility while retaining him as a strong trade asset.