D’Angelo Russell trade: Friends D-Lo, KAT reportedly unite on T-Wolves

The Golden State Warriors agreed to trade D’Angelo Russell to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday’s NBA trade deadline day, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported.

The deal unites Russell with his good friend Karl-Anthony Towns, the star center in Minnesota. Wojnarowski said Golden State will get back Andrew Wiggins, a 2021 protected first-round pick and a 2021 second-round pick. Minnesota also gets Jacob Evans and Omari Spellman, along with Russell.

The news may ignite concern for the Phoenix Suns fanbase, whose prized star Devin Booker completes a trio of buddies with Russell and Towns. The three of them appeared together on the cover of SLAM Magazine over the summer. In an interview, Russell told cameras that he wanted to play with his two friends.

“We gotta do this again, when we’re all on the same team,” Russell says. “Nah, don’t cut it. Y’all got it on footage. When we’re all on the same team—I ain’t gonna tell you which team because I don’t know—we’re gonna do this again.”

Suns supporters have already expressed desire for Russell to instead join Booker in Phoenix, evidenced by a billboard campaign over the summer imploring the Suns to acquire the former Lakers and Nets point guard. He landed this summer with Golden State via a sign-and-trade, inking for four years and $117 million, per Spotrac.

Booker hasn’t publicly shown any desire to leave the Suns organization, but neither his snub from the NBA All-Star game nor the possibility that Phoenix (20-31) could miss the playoffs for the 10th consecutive season portends well for his future in a league where stars often press their teams into trading them.

Further stoking concern were reports Thursday that Booker’s agent, Leon Rose, was joining the New York Knicks organization to head their basketball operations department.

The NBA trade deadline was 1 p.m. MST on Thursday.

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