D’Angelo Russell is in a strange state of limbo as he enters free agency. The Brooklyn Nets standout will be a restricted free agent, but if the Nets sign Kyrie Irving, having another high-scoring point guard might be a bit redundant. If the Nets can pair a second max free agent with Russell, he’d be free to seek greener pastures.
Amid all of this, the Minnesota Timberwolves have been mentioned as a potential landing spot for Russell, especially because star center Karl-Anthony Towns desperately wants the team to bring Russell on board. It turns out that Towns will personally get the chance to pitch Russell on joining the Wolves right as free agency opens up, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.
The Minnesota Timberwolves will meet with Brooklyn Nets restricted free agent D’Angelo Russell when free agency opens on Sunday, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
The Timberwolves contingent expected to be present at the meeting: president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas, head coach Ryan Saunders and franchise player Karl-Anthony Towns, sources said.
The issue at hand is that Minnesota would not have the necessary cap space to make a run at Russell, who is expected to get a ton of money from some team on the open market. But apparently, this is not a concern, according to Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports.
Told that D'Angelo Russell's team would not have set a meeting with the Minnesota Timberwolves without assurances Wolves could clear the necessary cap space to sign Russell. Minnesota has made it clear they believe they can get to the $27.25M max space necessary to sign Russell.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) June 29, 2019
The natural guess would be that Minnesota would find a way to move Andrew Wiggins’ gigantic contract, although they’ve run into some issues finding a suitor for the young wing. It’s still interesting nonetheless that the Wolves have signaled that they believe they can free up the cash to get Russell, and while there are so many moving parts that impact his free agency, he’s willing to hear Towns and company out at the start of the madness.
