 When I watch Steph and Carrie, I see myself a little bit. I'm not half the player he is, but I definitely see myself in him. If the opening day of the 2019 NBA Free Agency couldn't get any crazier, well, it just did. D'Angelo Russell is now a member of the Golden State Warriors. The Brooklyn Nets and the Warriors have agreed on a sign and trade sending D'Angelo Russell to the Warriors on a four-year $117 million maximum contract. If you told the NBA world that D'Angelo Russell would be a warrior, during the NBA playoffs this season, everyone would go insane. But it just happened. What in the actual world? How do the Golden State Warriors keep doing this? It is insane. Bob Meyers is an actual genius, and of course he does get the credit he deserves for bringing Kevin Durant in, for bringing DeMarcus Cousins in, and now bringing in D'Angelo Russell. This guy is solidifying his name as one of the greatest GMs of all time. He keeps bringing superstar level talent to their roster. And I can't describe how he does it, but he just manages to do it every single season. It is just insane. They just signed Clay Thompson to an extension, obviously, leaving Steph and Currie, Clay Thompson and Draymond Green as the core of the Warriors, and then you lose Kevin Durant, you add D'Angelo Russell. And what is so interesting about this trade is obviously Clay Thompson is injured next season, but at the end of the day, if he can get healthy, he could return for the playoffs. If you have Steph and Currie at the one, D'Angelo Russell at the two, Clay Thompson who has to now run the three, Draymond Green, and then you still get a free agent center, this team is an NBA Finals, NBA Championship team. Of course, ultimately, this is a positive note for the Golden State Warriors, but will it have negative implications? Well, the first thing is, obviously D'Angelo Russell is not Clay Thompson, and when Clay Thompson is out injured, D'Angelo Russell and Steph Currie as a backcourt, that's not very good defensively. Offensively, yes, they are both very, very talented, but defensively, that's where it's going to get really, really interesting. And personally, I think that will be something that the Warriors will struggle against. They will need to get a guy off the bench that can be a sole defender, considering they lost Iggy, they're probably going to lose Sean Livingston, and if Steph and Currie and D'Angelo Russell are out there together, then defensively they are going to struggle, I promise that. But in saying that, whatever they lose defensively, they gain offensively, because obviously with Clay Thompson out, the perfect guy is a great offensive talent, and that is D'Angelo Russell. So, that will be very, very interesting and something to watch next season. The other negative note on this trade is not the fact that they lost Andre Gadala, but the fact that with all their money basically going to Russell, Currie, D'Ramon and Clay, that will leave their bench in a very dire situation, and they're going to have to get some bench depth, but they can only really sign them for the minimum contract, and that will be something that we'll discuss later on. Like, of course they already were with Steph and Currie, Clay Thompson and D'Ramon Green, but obviously with Clay Thompson being out injured, it's hard to predict how the Warriors will go, especially in an always challenging Western Conference, and Anthony Davis joining LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers, with the Rockets always being a solid team, and the Utah Jazz now adding a few good pieces, like it's always going to be a challenging conference to play in, and if they just had Steph and Currie and D'Ramon Green, well you would still assume that they'd be a playoff team, but you wouldn't lock them in to be in the NBA Finals. Now, of course they may not make the NBA Finals, but it still gives them a much higher chance, because you just add in D'Angelo Russell, and it's almost as if the Clay Thompson was never injured in the first place. D'Angelo is a lot worse on defense, and Clay Thompson is a better three-point shooter, but the principle is still there, and all-star caliber shooting guard, you just replace one with the other, and then Clay Thompson is going to come back healthy at one point, and they're going to be another big three, plus D'Ramon Green. I'm in shock. I actually am in shock. And whilst we all thought NBA parody was back in the NBA with Jimmy Butler on the Miami Heat, and Kyrie Irving in Brooklyn with Kevin Durant, and the Lakers pairing up Anthony Davis with LeBron James, the Golden State Warriors were just like, alright, let me just start playing in this year's free agency now, and just add D'Angelo Russell like it's nothing. That is insane. D'Angelo Russell had a breakout year last year. He had his first all-star bid, while leading the Nets their first playoff berth since 2015, and obviously after a pretty rough start in LA, Russell hit his stride last year, and we all thought, wow, maybe he goes back to LA, maybe he joins a new team, the Phoenix Suns, the 76ers, but to end up in Golden State was something that just nobody could imagine. The former number two NBA draft pick was presumed the future point guard of the Lakers, and then obviously the drama happened, they ended up getting Lonzo Bowl, and at the end of the day, that was probably the best thing that happened to him, because his time with the Nets has shown that he could be a star player in the league and definitely has the potential. He averaged 15.5 points, 5.2 assists in his first year at Brooklyn, but this season he averaged 21.7 assists to go along with 1.2 steals per game, shooting a career-high 37% from the three-point line. Now, the interesting thing will be how will D'Angelo Russell play? How good will he play with the Golden State Warriors? Both D'Angelo Russell and Stephen Curry have a lot of potential offensively. Together it will be interesting to see how they play, but offensively I think we have no doubts they will be a great duo. But so much of D'Angelo Russell's success in Brooklyn was tied to him being the ball handler, being the guy at the top of the key, running the pick and rolls, controlling the offense, and that is something that Steve Coe doesn't really do. He plays off-ball, gets his shooters off-ball, through screens, running around, side-to-side, a lot of movement, and D'Angelo Russell standing off-ball in a Clay Thompson role? To me he's a little bit iffy considering that the reason why Clay Thompson makes it work is because number one, he is one of the greatest shooters of all time, but number two, he also controls the game on the defensive end, and this is something that D'Angelo Russell does not do. So personally, as much as D'Angelo Russell is a young, great player, I do not rate this trade as much as a lot of other people think, but I still do like the fact that they tried to go after a big-name player and they landed it, I just don't think as a fit it works well with the Golden State Warriors and the way that they play. So I have two paths to this. I don't think that D'Angelo Russell in Golden State will work out, and I don't think he will fit in the Warriors roster, but I do think it is a great pickup for the Golden State Warriors because it gives them a trade asset. D'Angelo Russell is now somebody that the Warriors can trade away later on at the trade deadline or in the future, and it gives them something that they can actually use as an asset which they never really had. But the trade in itself, I don't think this is a good trade for the Golden State Warriors because I don't think D'Angelo Russell fits in with Stefan Curry, D'Raymond Green and Clay Thompson as one. Next year it will be a different story. It will just be Stefan Curry, D'Angelo Russell and D'Raymond Green, and obviously I think that with just Stefan Curry and D'Raymond Green, D'Angelo will still average similar numbers to how he did in Brooklyn this season, especially on the scoring end, maybe not really facilitating and getting as many assists. But when Clay Thompson gets back, that will probably make D'Angelo Russell the fourth star on this team. Well, that depends because at the end of the day, D'Raymond Green, he isn't a star player but he plays such a different role and a unique role for the Golden State Warriors that he does stuff that no other player will do on that team, including D'Angelo Russell and including Stefan Curry. And even though they are the guards on that team, D'Raymond Green is basically the point forward and he's the guy that facilitates a lot of the ball and Stefan Curry runs off the screens, he's an off-ball kind of player and that is why he's one of the greatest shooters in NBA, almost as a two guard. D'Angelo Russell, he is a similar type of player but he can create his own shot. Of course, Stefan Curry can too, but since D'Angelo Russell is six foot five, he has a bigger frame and he can finish around the ring a little bit easier than Stefan Curry can, just because of the height, but both players are actually quite similar in the way that they play. D'Angelo is probably a better facilitator but at the same time, Stefan Curry is two. It's gonna be super interesting to see how they play together and I really do not know because on paper, I don't actually think they're gonna work that well together but Steve Kerr has a system drawn up. I feel like D'Angelo Russell's playmaking ability will decrease a lot in Golden State but his scoring numbers may rise heaps so that will be the interesting part about it. Without Clay Thompson on the Warriors, this is going to be very exciting to see D'Angelo Russell and Stefan Curry on the same team. At the end of the day, the Golden State Warriors will lose depth on this team. They are trading Andre Godala away and he was a vital part of what the Warriors were in the last few seasons, like Arnold's MVP, a guy that could lock down any small forward on the opposition team. He played off the bench, he could start, he was part of the death lineup when DeMarcus Cousins wasn't there. This is still a guy that was a very solid contributor to this team and now he's gone so the Warriors are gonna lack their depth. Obviously, we don't know who else they're gonna get. This is just the first day in free agency but the Warriors at this point wouldn't surprise me if they end up with a very solid bench depth this season even if they had limited cap space. They can sign guys for the minimum and they would actually be decent players because the Warriors are so good at getting players that they need and they want at their own price. In the trade for Andre Godala, the Warriors also got Shabazz Napier and Trayvon Graham so those are two guys that can be used as bench depth. DeAngelo Russell obviously is the main guy but Shabazz Napier is not a bad backup point guard. He didn't really fit too well with the Brooklyn Nets because they had D Lo and they obviously had Spencer Dinwiddie who came off the bench but Shabazz Napier drafted by the Miami Heat. He's the guy that LeBron said bring him to Miami and they did even though he left. Shabazz Napier actually came in the league with a high reputation considering that LeBron loved Shabazz Napier and Napier hasn't disappointed in the NBA. He has been a solid backup point guard. So if that's one player down all they are really targeting is some big men to play and that's basically it. They can't do anything much in this year's NBA Free Agency so just target some big men and then roll with it. So let me know what you guys think about this whole trade. How do you think it impacts the rest of the league and how do you think that this trade impacts the Golden State Warriors? Are they strong NBA finals contenders or are they just a playoff team that will make the Western Conference or Semi Conference? Who knows where the Warriors will play but let me know what you think personally in the comment section down below. What did you think when you first heard about it because I was just in shock. I was like how the hell do the Warriors keep doing this? It frustrates me but at the same time it is super cool and I give a massive shout out to the Warriors and their management because they keep making these deals happen and they keep doing super well in free agencies and in the drafts so shout out to the Warriors. With that being said, if you enjoyed this video be sure to leave a like. Let's see if we can reach 2,000 likes for the next video. Subscribe if you are new. Follow me on Instagram and hit the notification button and I will catch you guys in my next video. I am out. Peace.