D'Angelo Russell made his highly anticipated debut for the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday following a deadline-day trade from the Golden State Warriors. The one-time All-Star logged 22 points (on 7-of-12 shooting), four triples, five assists, a steal, and six turnovers in 32 minutes of play, and despite his relatively impressive showing, it is clear that Russell still needs time to acclimatize himself with his new team and teammates.

According to Russell himself, however, time is something that is going to be on their side:

“It’s a whole new group, so the chemistry’s going to develop within time,” Russell said, via The Athletic's Jon Krawczynski. “Time’s on our side right now. We’re not in a playoff race or anything like that. We’re just worried about us. The more games and more practice and more film sessions we can get under our belt, the better we’ll be.”

Russell makes an excellent point here, and setting aside the fact that this has been a very disappointing season for the Timberwolves, the team's current situation should actually work in their favor in terms of building some much-needed chemistry within their revamped squad.

Russell then spoke about his relationship with Minnesota cornerstone superstar Karl-Anthony Towns. Being extremely close friends, Russell believes that their closeness and familiarity with each other is another thing they have going for them. Now, they'll just have to figure out how to translate that to wins:

“We know what we bring to the table,” Russell said. “It’s just about dissecting the film and bringing it together and seeing how we can take the weight off each other’s shoulders down the stretch, whenever we need him to make a play and vice versa.”

Russell did not exactly have the best of stints with the Warriors. Now with the Timberwolves, he has been given an opportunity for a fresh start with a team that he absolutely wants to play for — and vice versa.