The Western Conference Finals are officially set with the Minnesota Timberwolves taking on the Dallas Mavericks to see who will go to the NBA Finals. And despite being eliminated in the first round, there are a number of Los Angeles Lakers who have ties to the Timberwolves.
The Lakers acquired D’Angelo Russell from the Timberwolves in a three-team deal at the 2023 trade deadline. Jarred Vanderbilt, who also previously played with the Timberwolves, was involved in that traded as well. Additionally, last offseason the Lakers signed veteran wing Taurean Prince, who had spent the prior two seasons in Minnesota.
So of course these players still have connections to the franchise and want to see them succeed. As such, it isn’t much of a surprise that Russell took to social media to pick the Timberwolves to not only win the Western Conference Finals, but to sweep the Mavericks, via NBA Central:
D’Angelo Russell is picking Minnesota in 4 games ?
(h/t @AhnFireDigital ) pic.twitter.com/p37gHq0Hm8
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) May 21, 2024
The picture Russell posted of himself, Vanderbilt and Prince is a nice touch and shows that the current Lakers maintained a great connection from their time with the Timberwolves. Add in the fact that the Lakers, of course, were originally the Minneapolis Lakers and everything really comes together perfectly.
The Timberwolves, led by rising star Anthony Edwards, are slight favorites over the Mavericks in this series after their unbelievable comeback on the road in Game 7 to eliminate the Denver Nuggets. But the series will be far from an easy one as the Mavericks have been playing excellent basketball and have two of the best offensive players in the league in Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving.
Meanwhile, Russell and Prince will have some decisions to make this offseason. Prince is an unrestricted free agent while Russell can opt out of his contract and become one as well, so both could wind up with new teams next year. Vanderbilt recently signed an extension with the Lakers, but with the front office exploring roster upgrades, there remains a possibility he could be traded away this summer as well.
Magic interested in Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell
If D’Angelo Russell does hit the open market, he is sure to have some suitors and one of those teams is apparently the Orlando Magic.
Recent reports suggest that the Magic would be interested in Russell should he opt out of his deal and become an unrestricted free agent. Orlando is coming off an impressive season in which they were the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference and pushed the Cleveland Cavaliers to seven games in the first round of the playoffs.
However, it became apparent that the Magic need more offensive firepower and Russell, who averaged 18 points while shooting 41.5% from 3-point range, could certainly fill that void as the Lakers could be in danger of losing their third best player form last season for nothing.
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