D’Angelo Russell reportedly drawing trade interest from his former team

May 6, 2023; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell (1) moves the ball up court against the Golden State Warriors during the first half in game three of the 2023 NBA playoffs at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

D’Angelo Russell may end up boomeranging back to his old NBA team.

Jake Fischer of Yahoo! Sports reported this week that the Los Angeles Lakers guard Russell is drawing trade interest from the Brooklyn Nets. Fischer notes that the Nets have been open to a potential reunion with Russell ever since the NBA trade deadline last February.

The former No. 2 overall pick Russell played on Brooklyn for two seasons from 2017-19. There, he earned the only All-Star selection of his career in 2019 and was a leading option on offense with total averages of 19.0 points and 6.3 assists per game as a Net. While the Nets look almost completely different from an organizational standpoint these days, they just traded away leading scorer and defender Mikal Bridges and could be pivoting towards young players and/or veterans on very short-term contracts.

Russell, 28, just picked up his $18.7 million player option for the 2024-25 season, pushing his free agency back to next offseason. That makes him a trade chip for the Lakers, and they may be able to send Russell to Brooklyn as part of a multi-team trade involving this six-time NBA All-Star coming back to L.A. in return.