The start of NBA free agency is just two days away, and things are starting to fall into place around the league. And a new report says that the Dallas Mavericks are reportedly the heavy favorites for one of the market’s foremost point guard targets.
According to his latest news round-up, Marc Stein of The Stein Line – unimpeachable in terms of the quality of his intel around the league, but particularly so with regards to the Mavericks – reports that league sources tell him the Mavericks are “increasingly regarded” as the favorites to sign D’Angelo Russell. The 29-year-old guard is heading to free agency on the back of his second stint with the Brooklyn Nets, who have shown no strong inclination to re-sign a player they re-acquired only in December, in a trade with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Russell’s Stop-Start Career
Across 58 games split between the Nets and Lakers last season, Russell posted career-worst numbers. He averaged 12.6 points and 5.1 assists per game, but shot only 39.0% from the field to do it, along with a below-average 31.4% from three-point range on more than six attempts per game. It was the lowest scoring output in his ten-year NBA career.
At his peak, Russell averaged more than 20 points per game in each of the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons, and made his sole All-Star appearance in 2019. That year, while still in his first stint with the Nets, he recorded averages of 21.1 points and 7.0 assists per game, before a high-profile trade to the Golden State Warriors followed in the summer, beginning the career travels that also saw him spend three years with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
While never the steadiest of players, Russell could benefit from some stability in his own career. Once regarded as a lead guard of the future, he has now become something of a journeyman, passed around from team to team as a hired gun without being able to put down his roots.
There is something to be said for players who can do this. For example, when Dennis Schröder joined the Detroit Pistons earlier this past season, he greatly improved both the team and his own market value, which according to Stein’s same report will see him sign with the Sacramento Kings next week.
Russell, though, both will have wanted – and expected to offer – more than that.
Mavericks’ Point Guard Problem
In Dallas, though, the point guard position is in flux.
The Russell development comes in the wake of multiple reports tying the Mavericks to various names on the point guard market. Schr̦der was one. Chris Paul Рnow thought to be heading to the Lakers Рwas another. And while it is likely now too late after his trade to the Portland Trail Blazers earlier this week, Jrue Holiday was a third.
Point guard for the Mavericks is an unconventional proposition. Until February, the team had Kyrie Irving for the position, while also having Luka Doncic doing much of the responsibilities of the position from the forward spots. However, with Luka traded to the Lakers (in a deal so surprising it has its own Wikipedia page), and Irving out indefinitely with a torn knee ligament, the Mavericks have sought a veteran option to fill the void – at least for the short term.
The #1 draft pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, Cooper Flagg, will reportedly be used in a Doncic-esque way. Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd this week confirmed that the team intends to use Flagg as a point guard, just as Doncic was, despite his 6’9 stature.
With this in mind, perhaps Russell is the ideal fit for the Mavericks. While never a stand-out defensive player, Russell’s speed, size, handle, scoring bag and relentless aggression have long made him a potential game-changing scoring option, if not an especially consistent one.
The same is true of Schroeder, a man reborn, who is coveted accordingly. Perhaps, then, Russell’s career second-wind starts now.
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