The Los Angeles Lakers made a big move at the deadline to finally move on from Russell Westbrook to bring a package of D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley, and Jarred Vanderbilt to the squad.
This gave the Lakers some much-needed depth and helped the team assemble a young core that can grow with the team in the future, even when LeBron James decides to retire or leave.
Russell is a former Laker, being drafted y the franchise in 2015 and playing alongside Kobe Bryant. However, Russell was traded to the Brooklyn Nets when the team started to open up cap space to sign LeBron as a free agent in 2018.
Now that he has come back years later as a former All-Star who is still just 26, the Lakers are interested in extending his contract, according to Adrian Wojnarowski.
“D’Angelo Russell returns to the Lakers at 26 years old on the final year of a 4-year, $117 million contract. Both the Lakers and D’Angelo Russell have already expressed their interest in starting conversations on a contract extension. Russell could be a free agent this summer but the Lakers gave up a first-round pick, two second-round pick, not to be a rental but to be a solution at that position.”
Russell is on a $31.3 million expiring contract this season. Whether he can command the same salary in the open market is unclear but it is in everyone’s best interest to ensure a partnership with LA continues.
Will The Lakers Extend This Core Or Swing For Kyrie Irving?
Everyone is expecting the Lakers to lead the charge to acquire Kyrie Irving in the summer. Even if the Lakers don’t extend any contracts and clear out all their cap holds, the team will have under $35 million in cap space, meaning they can’t offer Irving the money he wants as a free agent. They’ll need to agree on a sign-and-trade with the Dallas Mavericks which may be problematic given the Phoenix Suns have also shown interest.
It’s safer for the Lakers to extend D’Angelo, Austin Reaves, and Rui Hachimura while accepting the team option on Malik Beasley’s contract to give this squad another season to grow. It may be too late this season but it definitely makes LA look fearsome next season.
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