Just when you thought the Warriors had lost Kevin Durant for nothing, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting that Golden State and the Brooklyn Nets have agreed to a sign-and-trade for Durant that will send D'Angelo Russell to the Bay Area.
Golden State and Brooklyn have agreed on a sign-and-trade, sending D’Angelo Russell to the Warriors on a four-year, $117M maximum contract, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 1, 2019
All things considered, this could be the bombshell of the night. Yes, a sign-and-trade with someone for Durant had been talked about but for this to actually happen is nuts. The Warriors were going to lose Durant for nothing and they had no money or assets that are attractive enough to replace him. Now, out of the rabbit's hat, they get a 23-year-old All-Star who was on the shortlist for a max deal with a lot of teams?
Light Freaking Years.
There is one catch here:
Golden State is trading Andre Iguodala to the Memphis Grizzlies, league source tells ESPN. Warriors are sending a 2024 protected first-round pick in the 2024 (protected 1-4), 2025 (protected 1) and 2026 unprotected.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 1, 2019
Listen, losing Iguodala isn't nothing. He's still a huge player come playoff time. But he's on the downslope, and again, the Warriors, who just signed Klay Thompson to a max deal and may have to do the same for Draymond Green next summer, weren't going to be able to get younger talent for a good chunk of time. To get Russell is beyond amazing. He's a guy lesser teams would legitimately consider building their team around.
There will be other casualties from this deal. Because of luxury tax implications and the fact that the Warriors are hard capped at just shy of $140 million after the Russell trade, DeMarcus Cousins is almost surely gone. Kevon Looney, too. Quinn Cook and Jordan Bell could follow. Shaun Livingston, too. So on this sense, Russell is far from free. But you take him over any one of those guys in a hot second, and obviously the Warriors decided he was worth more than most of them combined.
This is all so crazy, I wouldn't be surprised if Golden State eventually trades Russell for more fitting pieces, but either way, they're getting big value for a player in Durant they were going to lose for nothing and had no means to replace.