In spite of proving himself to be a significant player in the court during his time with the Brooklyn Nets, the free agency of D'Angelo Russell's is still filled with a lot of controversies, especially his locker room presence. The possible splitting effect allegedly led to Phoenix Suns move of not pursuing the talented player. The Phoenix Suns are one of the teams that could greatly benefit from getting the 23-year-old combo guard yet the team did not call him during the start of the NBA free agency.
Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic reported that Suns' rising player Devin Booker personally campaigned for bid friend Russell. Jared Weiss of The Athletics even reported last Saturday that the Phoenix Suns is planning to exhaust all possible options just to sign Russell with the team. However, the team passed the star player and instead chose the seasoned player Ricky Rubio.
Allegedly, one of the reasons behind the strategic move of the Phoenix Suns has something to do with its front office feeling that D'Angelo Russell could be a bad influence to Devin Booker outside the court. While Russell and Booker are of the same age and both get into the NBA in 2015, Russell has already had a highly publicized career in the league. This began when he was first shipped by the LA Lakers to Brooklyn Nets in 2017 for practically nothing in return.
During the time of the trade, there were several reports from the LA Lakers camp questioning Russell's divisive personality as well as his work ethics. Additionally, Russell allegedly pranked his former teammate Nick Young by recording him cheating on his girlfriend, Iggy Azalea. The video was leaked, which led to the end of the relationship of the NBA player and his fiancé and the LA Lakers shutting Russell out.
Last May, D'Angelo Russell was cited for possession of marijuana after trying to bring the weed through LaGuardia airport. Regardless of his attitude and his antics, his performance on the court was not affected. He showed a fantastic year with Brooklyn Nets and averaged 21.1 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 7.0 assists.
Because of this many teams began re-evaluating his production against his personality. This triggered previous LA Lakers president Magic Johnson to say that the NBA player has really matured after he left the team. But, as it turns out, D'Angelo Russell has the last laugh.
Brooklyn Nets was so desperate to provide a room for Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant that it held a sign and trade with the Golden State Warriors and sent Russell to the GSW. Since there must be a cap space balance on both sides, Russell was able to secure a massive offer of $117 million for a four-year contract for the Golden State Warriors.
