D’Angelo Russell pushing Wolves to acquire former Lakers teammate?

The Minnesota Timberwolves already have one Los Angeles Lakers exile in D’Angelo Russell. Now they could be going for two.

Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com reported over the weekend that the Wolves have been “aggressively pursuing” Cleveland Cavaliers big man Larry Nance Jr. since the offseason. Fedor notes that Nance is good friends with Russell, who is described as “a strong Nance advocate.”

Russell and Nance were rookies together on the Lakers during the 2015-16 campaign under the mentorship of the late Kobe Bryant. They spent one more season as teammates before the Lakers traded Russell in the 2017 offseason. Nance was then dealt at the 2018 trade deadline.

The defensive-minded Nance is looking like a popular trade target again. As for Russell, he appears to have at least some pull in Minnesota. Thus, we can expect the Wolves to be at the forefront of Nance talks in the coming weeks.