D’Angelo Russell, not in Golden State’s lineup at Washington on Monday?Interesting.
That’s because it’s the week of the NBA trade deadline, when teams need to be careful with the health of players they might be trying to deal. The deadline is Thursday at 3 p.m. EST. It arrives quickly now, once the NBA moved it from its longtime spot on the calendar after the All-Star break to its current one the week before. It allows traded players to use the break to acclimate themselves to a new situation, rather than returning to a team that might deal them a couple days later.
Russell could be making that adjustment. He’s been considered a trade possibility since virtually the moment the Warriors acquired him from Brooklyn in July in the sign-and-trade transaction that sentacross the country. He’s a point guard coming off his first All-Star season, is under contract for a few more years, and plays in a backcourt where the Warriors will eventually haveSo it was hardly a surprise when word came Monday that Russell wouldn’t play.
“It feels different this year obviously, because of the circumstances that we find ourselves in,” Kerr told reporters in Washington. “Definitely different set of circumstances, so I have to address those circumstances as a coach in terms of what that means for our team, for individual players.