NBA Twitter was all a tizzy on Monday afternoon as reports started to leak out claiming that the Minnesota Timberwolves were "shopping" veteran point guard D'Angelo Russell. The report started with Kevin O'Connor of The Ringer who put out an NBA Draft Guide this week and in it made the claim that sent everybody fishing for more info.
The claim sort of came and went as O'Connor was explaining why he had the Wolves slated to pick a guard with the 19th overall pick in the first round of next week's draft, but it was enough to send the Wolves fanbase and the NBA world into a tizzy.
Russell has appeared to be the odd many out with Karl Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards holding a larger share of standing with the team following the end of the 2022 playoff run, so it all makes sense. But now we have an actual NBA insider who is making the claim.
And later on in Monday afternoon, we received confirmation that D'Angelo Russell has in fact noticed the news that has been shared.
In a tweet posted hours after the original report came out, Russell mocked the news saying, "Hey world I'm shopping."
As seemingly insignificant as this news could be, it's also usually one of the last steps before a team and a player break up for good. Look at Baker Mayfield in the NFL, Ben Simmons in the NBA, each situation has unique circumstances built in but when a player knows that a team is trying to get rid of them, it's usually taken as a bit of a slap in the face (right or wrong) and spells the end of the relationship.
As of Monday afternoon, these are nothing but reports, but with D-Lo spouting off publicly now, we might start to see this process expedited before the Draft on June 23rd.