Brooklyn Nets: Golden State Warriors still working on D’Angelo Russell deal
By Phil Watson
According to a report, the Golden State Warriors are still finalizing a deal that would send D’Angelo Russell from the Brooklyn Nets for Kevin Durant.
UPDATED: 1:00 p.m. Eastern
The Brooklyn Nets and Golden State Warriors are close to an agreement to swap D’Angelo Russell for Kevin Durant via a rare double sign-and-trade, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
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The deal is all but done, with the Warriors working on the structure of the final trade.
Russell will get a four-year, $117 max deal from the Nets and be traded to the Warriors, who will re-sign Kevin Durant to a four-year deal for slightly less than the $164 million maximum for him and trade him to Brooklyn.
Durant and Kyrie Irving will reportedly take less than the max available to allow the Nets to also add DeAndre Jordan on a four-year, $40 million deal.
According to Wojnarowski, the Nets will acquire a future first-round pick from Golden State as part of the package.
Deal will include Golden State sending a protecting future first-round pick to Brooklyn, league sources tell ESPN. https://t.co/BndEZPRblo
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 1, 2019
Earlier Monday, Wojnarowski explained some of the details during an appearance on SportsCenter, indicating at that point the pick would be in the second round:
"“(Brooklyn will) probably get a second-round pick or something and it’s mostly just a goodwill gesture for D’Angelo. He did a lot for that organization.“They probably weren’t in a position to get Kyrie Irving, to get Kevin Durant, without what D’Angelo Russell did to elevate that organization.”"
Russell will get the max deal he wanted and go to an organization that has won three of the last five NBA titles. The Nets, in turn, land Durant — who will be just the second former NBA MVP to suit up for the franchise since the team moved from the ABA to the NBA in 1976.
Russell has a ready-made role, at least for the short term, as Klay Thompson — who agreed to a five-year, $190 million max with the Warriors on Sunday night, per NBC Sports Authentic — recovers from the torn ACL he sustained during Game 6 of the NBA Finals last month.
It could be a longer-term role, as well, because Thompson has the size and skill set to slide from the 2 to the 3 as the replacement for Durant with Golden State’s starting unit.
In any case, the Nets did right by Russell, who deserves a huge amount of credit for the role he played in Brooklyn’s resurgence to a playoff berth and a winning record in 2018-19. It was the team’s first postseason appearance since 2015 and their first winning season since 2013-14.
General manager Sean Marks swung for the fences and hit a home run, landing Durant, Irving and Jordan, while also making sure that Russell wasn’t just kicked to the curb.
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It is yet another sign that Brooklyn is getting further and further removed from the days of the “same old Nets.”