Warriors GM Bob Myers: "I know it's been written and speculated. That's fine. That's what everybody's job is to do. We didn't sign him [D'Angelo Russell] with the intention of just trading him. We haven't even seen him play in our uniform yet, and a lot of people have us already trading him. That's not how we're viewing it. Let's just see what we have. Let's see what he is. Let's see how he fits. We're just happy that we got a young player that has a lot of upside, in our opinion, and we're excited at the possibility of him in our uniform."
Golden State Warriors general manager Bob Myers said in a press conference Monday that the team has no desire to trade recently signed All-Star point guard D’Angelo Russell, as many NBA Insiders around the sport overwhelmingly speculated that the undermanned Warriors simply signed Russell as an insurance policy and it was just a matter of time before they tried to flip him as an asset.
During an unpredicted offseason for the former dynasty that has waived goodbye to beloved franchise pillars the likes of Kevin Durant, Andre Iguodala, and Shaun Livingston, the team quickly became unexpected buyers in one of the most notorious off-seasons in NBA history.
Russell was coming off a career season in Brooklyn where he scored a career high 21.7 points and shockingly led a dormant Nets team to the playoffs. But Brooklyn’s love affair with Kyrie Irving turned Russell into a lukewarm asset going forward.
After flirting with the Lakers and Timberwolves, Russell signed a max deal with the Warriors for four-years, $117 million.
With Quinn Cook having signed with the Lakers and Klay Thompson expected to be out until February, many believed Russell was going to be a temporary stopgap for Klay, and then be traded at the deadline.
Myers, however, says they do not have any intentions of trading the 23-year-old All-Star.