The Brooklyn Nets have extended their qualifying offer to All-Star guard D’Angelo Russell, per The Athletic’s Shams Charania, making Russell a restricted free agent ahead of Sunday’s start to free agency.
Brooklyn will have a wide variety of options with Russell. First, because the former second-overall pick of the 2015 draft is a restricted free agent, he can sign an “offer sheet” with another organization. Then, the Nets have the ability to keep D’Angelo by matching any offer by another team.
It might get messier than that if reports are to believed, however.
Brooklyn has been tied to impending unrestricted free agent Kyrie Irving in recent weeks, with speculation heating up and pointing to a union between the Celtics point guard and outer borough NBA franchise.
Should the Nets ink Irving to a maximum-contract deal in free agency, it’s heading towards “unlikely” territory for Russell to remain with the team that revived the young pro’s career.
Russell was sent to Brooklyn following locker room issues with his teammates in Los Angeles; thus, in June 2017, the Lakers shipped the then-sunk-cost D’Lo to the Nets with Timofey Mozgov for Brook Lopez and Kyle Kuzma.
Since then, Russell has grown as a premier guard in the Association, earning his first-ever All-Star honors last February. Nonetheless, Russell and the Nets could part, despite Brooklyn extending the qualifying offer, due to potential compatibility issues in the backcourt with Kyrie.
One suitor for Russell, should the Nets fail to match any offer, includes the Indiana Pacers. Phoenix Suns fans want the desert team to bid for Russell’s talents, but that could be distant from Phoenix brass’ intentions.
Follow Us
Subscribe