When the Golden State Warriors acquired D'Angelo Russell back in July, there was some chatter that the Warriors actually viewed him as a trade chip rather than a legitimate member of the team moving forward.
Warriors president Bob Myers insisted the club didn't bring in Russell just to trade him, but some felt that that was just lip service.
Turns out it wasn't.
According to Ethan Strauss of The Athletic, the Warriors' front office is “smitten” with Russell and plans on keeping him for the long haul.
Given that Golden State is actually pretty desperate for offensive talent following the departure of Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson's ACL injury, this does not come as too much of a surprise.
While Russell is a bit rough around the edges and could stand to improve his efficiency, there is no denying his ability on the offensive end, as he frequently went on scoring binges, Stephen Curry style, at moments this past season with the Brooklyn Nets.
In 81 games during the 2018-19 campaign, Russell averaged 21.1 points, 7.0 assists, 3.9 rebounds and 1.2 steals over 30.2 minutes per game while shooting 43.4 percent from the floor, 36.9 percent from 3-point range and 78.0 percent from the free-throw line.
The 23-year-old, who played his collegiate basketball at Ohio State, was originally selected by the Los Angeles Lakers with the second overall pick of the 2015 NBA Draft.
He spent the first two seasons of his career with the Lakers before being traded to the Nets during the summer of 2017.
Russell owns career averages of 16.5 points and 5.1 assists per game.
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