D'Angelo Russell Rumors: Lakers, PG Have 'Mutual Interest' in Return in Free Agency

The Los Angeles Lakers and D'Angelo Russell had "mutual interest" in a contract when the NBA free-agency negotiating window opened Friday, according to Yahoo Sports' Jake Fischer.

Los Angeles has already splashed out for another guard, with ESPN's Dave McMenamin reporting Gabe Vincent agreed to a three-year, $33 million deal.

Many fans naturally questioned whether that impacted the odds of Russell staying on the West Coast. Shortly after news of the Vincent contract broke, Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times reported the Lakers "still have interest" in reuniting with the 2018-19 All-Star.

Bringing in Vincent doesn't preclude the team from re-signing Russell, who performed well in the regular season before his flaws were exposed in the playoffs. He averaged 17.4 points and 6.1 assists and shot 41.4 percent from beyond the arc in 17 games after his midseason trade.

Vincent experienced the inverse in 2022-23 as he had a somewhat nondescript regular season before breaking out in the postseason as the Miami Heat reached the NBA Finals.

Depending on what else is to follow in Los Angeles, the 27-year-old start or come off the bench for the team, which gives general manager Rob Pelinka some leverage in negotiations with Russell's representatives.

The Athletic's Jovan Buha wrote how "there doesn't appear to be much leaguewide interest" in the 6'4" guard. It certainly doesn't look like he'll collect anything close to the four-year, $117.3 million contract he signed the last time he was a free agent.

After Game 1 of the Western Conference finals, McMenamin reported there was an internal fear the Lakers could "lose" Russell if he got benched and didn't respond positively to the move. He eventually got bumped down to the reserves for Game 4 of the series.

Head coach Darvin Ham's decision doesn't appear to have caused an irreparable rift with Russell, and from the Lakers' perspective, it probably helps that the player's market seems to be somewhat limited already.