The Golden State Warriors made a big splash before the NBA Trade Deadline on Thursday, sending G D’Angelo Russell to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for Andrew Wiggins and draft picks. Jacob Evans and Omari Spellman were also sent to Minnesota as part of the deal, per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
We weren’t sure if the Dubs would pull the trigger on a deal involving Russell, but they ultimately went with it, acquiring Wiggins while retaining some draft picks in the process. For now, let’s focus on the fantasy basketball impact the trade will have on D’Lo and the Timberwolves.
Fantasy basketball analysis: D’Angelo Russell trade to Timberwolves
This is a huge move for Russell, who should take over as the point guard in Minny. The team had just traded away Shabazz Napier and the depth at guard is thin outside of a few young players in Jarrett Culver, Josh Okogie and Malik Beasley. This is essentially a two-man show of Russell and Karl-Anthony Towns, who should be thrilled about the deal. This give the Timberwolves an excellent inside-out combo to build around in the future.
Through 33 games this season, Russell had been averaging 23.6 points and 6.2 assists on 43% shooting from the field and 37.4% from distance. This was on a poor Warriors team and not much will change for Minnesota, which is 15-35 and at the bottom of the West. The T-Wolves have lost 13 in a row and it doesn’t appear much will turnaround. Still, Russell should be in just as good a fantasy basketball position on the Timberwolves as the Warriors. I’d expect a slight uptick in usage and potentially better assist numbers feeding KAT down low. Russell is a great future asset if you own him in keeper leagues.