What's going on with D'Angelo Russell on social media?
Is everyone overblowing the latest D'Angelo Russell drama or is it a situation where if there's smoke there's fire?
Russell is not following the Timberwolves on Instagram (was he ever?) and lots of folks are reacting to his retweet of Fred VanVleet retweeting his own tweet from 2016. Yes, that's an extremely confusing sentence but it makes sense.
In 2016, VanVleet tweeted: "Bet on yourself." Today, VanVleet retweeted that tweet. And then Russell retweeted VanVleet's retweet, which was nothing more than the retweet plus three dice showing snake eyes.
Like Russell, VanVleet has been the subject frustration and trade speculation as he's having a down season with the Raptors. And like Russell, VanVleet is likely to be an unrestricted free agent after the season if he opts out of the final year of his contract with the Raptors.
In Minnesota, where the Wolves have lost six of seven and haven't gotten consistent efforts from Russell, there's speculation that Russell could find himself a spot on the bench to help jumpstart the offense and defense. We'll likely learn a lot more when the Wolves post their starting lineup for tonight's game against the Blazers, as Russell is not on the injury report after missing Monday's win over Denver with an illness.
And what happens to Russell's role when Karl-Anthony Towns returns from injury?
Trade rumors have loomed over Russell's head for a long time. Last summer, a report from The Ringer's Kevin O'Connor said the Wolves were "shopping" Russell. Even more recently, in mid-December, Darren Wolfson of KSTP in the Twin Cities said:
"Miami has floated about this idea: 'OK, Minnesota, it doesn't look like you want to extend D'Angelo Russell. What about you send us Russell, here is Kyle Lowry,'" Wolfson said.
"Let me make this incredibly bleeping clear. Nothing is remotely close," Wolfson continued. "This is not the Wolves shopping D'Angelo Russell. I"m not even quite sure Miami is shopping Kyle Lowry."
Whatever the case, Russell's movement on social media is moving the needle just five weeks ahead of the Feb. 9 NBA trade deadline.
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Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.