The Minnesota Timberwolves swung for the fences with the D’Angelo Russell trade.
They paired Karl-Anthony Towns with one of his best friends while also landing another top-3 pick to their already impressive core.
Unfortunately, that didn’t pay off as expected, as Russell was one of their worst players on the floor in their short-lived playoff run last season, and some even thought he was a prime trade candidate ahead of this season.
That never happened, and Russell is seemingly turning the corner, showing glimpses of All-Star-caliber play again in Minneapolis.
But regardless of how he performs or not, one thing’s for sure: Russell’s confidence in his game is unmatched.
In fact, he recently called himself the ‘best passer in the league’ when retweeting one of his highlights.
Best passer in the league https://t.co/zjnJra7Io0
— D'Angelo Russell (@Dloading) December 24, 2022
While that could be a bit of a stretch, there’s no denying that Russell’s playmaking has been vital for the Timberwolves this season.
He’s been much better at finding the open guy instead of forcing the action:
“I had the wrong approach. I was trying to be too focused on being a point guard instead of a basketball player,” Russell told The Athletic. “Switching it up so my mentality was that there’s a lot of opportunity out there for me to just be me instead of overthink it and try to point guard the team.”
Still, the Timberwolves are nowhere near where they wanted to be at this point in the season, and their struggles only got worse with KAT’s injury.
So, if the Timberwolves want to stand a chance and make another run at the postseason, Russell better put his money where his mouth is and prove that he can — in fact — be the best passer in the league.
