First Impression Of Russell’s Second Nets’ Run: Still Might Be Too Good To Tank
This isn’t 2019. The Nets surely will not be going on a magical run to contend for a playoff/play-in berth now that guard D’Angelo Russell is back in town.
Russell, who was dealt to Brooklyn in Sunday’s trade of versatile wing Dorian Finney-Smith to the Lakers, made his second Nets debut in a sickening 130-113 loss at lowly Toronto on Wednesday night, extinguishing the Raptors’ 11-game losing streak. Without any team practices to prepare, Russell finished with 22 points off the bench on 9-of-13 shooting with 8 assists, 2 blocks, and a steal in 26 minutes.
Alarm bells rang in some fans’ ears.
No worries. So long as Head Coach Jordi Fernandez is forced to keep giving regular minutes to guys who are barely NBA players like Keon Johnson, Jalen Wilson, Ben Simmons, and Day’Ron Sharpe, Russell’s addition won’t spur a sequel and make the Nets miss the lottery. (And yes, I included Simmons, who sticks out like a sore thumb on the court. I believe Wednesday’s tilt turned when Simmons, receiving the ball under the basket, inexplicably attempted a reverse layup on the opposite side. Maybe he was trying to avoid contact, but instead of going up strong and cutting the deficit to three points with about nine minutes remaining, his higher-degree-of-difficulty shot rimmed out. Toronto of course scored in transition to ignite a 14-4 run that blew the game open.) The difference between today and that 2019 Nets’ squad: We could already tell that the young players running with Russell then, like Caris LeVert, Spencer Dinwiddie, Jarrett Allen, and Joe Harris, had much brighter futures in the league.
Russell, though, is skilled enough in the area the current Nets are most lacking to upset the tanking fever among the large segment of fans who are obsessed with the 2025 NBA Draft lottery’s slotting. When Russell entered Wednesday’s contest, you could feel the difference in Brooklyn’s offense from his ability to not only score at all levels, but to create for others. Contrast that with the Nets other primary ballhandlers: Cam Thomas, the elite bucket getter who could still use some improvement in knowing when to give up the rock; and Simmons, who is almost exclusively a facilitator at this point in his career.
For the fans who approved of the trade as a pro-tanking inducer, it was as if they forgot who D-Lo was. Were they expecting another Reece Beekman, the G-Leaguer obtained from Golden State in the Dennis Schroder trade last month? The inclusion of Russell, who earned a 2019 All-Star berth for Brooklyn, merely made this a purely defense-for-offense swap.
If going forward the Nets put out a starting five with Thomas, who sat out in Toronto as part of his hamstring injury management, Russell, Cam Johnson, Nic Claxton, and Noah Clowney (assuming he won’t miss much time following a hard fall on his back late in Wednesday’ third quarter), they’d have enough scoring punch to hang around in games that they otherwise would have no business competing in. The chronic paint congestion caused by including so many non-shooters like Claxton, Simmons and Keon Johnson all sharing the court would evaporate.
Now, that group won’t be able to stop anybody, especially if Claxton isn’t locked in on protecting the rim like he used to (Russell’s two blocks were it for Brooklyn in a despicable defensive performance versus a club that entered the contest with a bottom-five offensive rating, per NBA.com).
But to play the “What if” game, imagine if Sunday’s trade wasn’t executed and Finney-Smith was still in the Nets’ lineup. We’ll never know Wednesday’s outcome, but unless Cam Johnson went off for 40, I can’t see how Brooklyn would have broken the 90-point barrier. It would have been ugly. And given the Raptors’ transition speed with Immanuel Quickly back in action, it’s easy to imagine a similar losing margin, albeit with a lower total points surrendered than 130. With Russell, the Nets were able to stay within striking distance into the fourth quarter—they were down by seven when he went for a breather with seven minutes remaining; he returned after a 10-2 Raptors run over the next two minutes and the game was lost.
There’s all sorts of speculation as to what Nets General Manager Sean Marks intends to do with Russell. If the team wins too many games, did the Finney-Smith-for-Russell trade defeat the purpose following Marks’ offseason reacquisition of Brooklyn’s own 2025 and 2026 first-round picks? A Russell flip then seems logical, but there are two complications: Russell’s salary can’t be aggregated, and the Nets are only about $700,000 under the luxury tax threshold, meaning they can’t take back more than that in salary or else they’d incur repeater tax penalties.
Besides, for several reasons (defense, perception of immaturity, etc.) Russell has never been all that coveted. He’s on an expiring contract for about $18.7 million, which brings some value to potential trade partners, but the higher number may be difficult to match if Marks maintains his insistence on not bringing back contracts beyond this season.
Would Russell accept a buyout if he isn’t moved by the February 6 deadline? That’s unknown at this juncture, though Hoops Hype’s Michael Scotto reported that such a break is not in anyone’s plans.
Remember, Russell will be seeking a new contract this summer, so he will have to decide if he thinks he can secure a bigger payday by contributing in a lesser role on a playoff team versus putting up big but meaningless numbers on a tanker. It's why I don’t sense any desire from Cam Johnson to be dealt—besides his innate professionalism, he may realize that his development into a three-level, 20-points-per-game scorer might be shelved if he were to be sent to a club needing him to be pigeonholed into performing a more specific task, like catch-and-shoot three-pointers.
While he’s here, Russell’s ultimate impact on the Nets obviously remains to be seen. He probably won’t be as effective on a nightly basis when he’s not facing the dregs of the league. However, our first glimpse of his second run here doesn’t seem to have altered Brooklyn’s outlook for this season: They still seem to be too good to tank to that segment of the fan base’s satisfaction.