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D’Angelo Russell had to go just like Monta Ellis

By Evan Quarnstrom

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS - JANUARY 30: D'Angelo Russell #0 of the Golden State Warriors looks down during the third quarter of the game against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden on January 30, 2020 in Boston, Massachusetts. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Omar Rawlings/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS - JANUARY 30: D'Angelo Russell #0 of the Golden State Warriors looks down during the third quarter of the game against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden on January 30, 2020 in Boston, Massachusetts. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Omar Rawlings/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Sam Forencich/NBAE via Getty Images)
(Photo by Sam Forencich/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Better title hopes without D’Angelo Russell

Regardless of how this experiment unfolds, the correct decision was made in trading D’Angelo Russell.

While D’Lo was great and even showed flashes of brilliance in his short term with the Dubs, he created more doubt than confidence that he could be a piece of a championship run. The doubts about his fit with the Warriors proved to lead to his demise after all.

Something had to change.

It’s not out of the question to think that the Wiggins situation doesn’t end up any better than the Russell scenario would have, but with Wiggins the Warriors have a much higher ceiling.

If Wiggins ends up seamlessly fitting into the Warriors’ motion offense and plays acceptable defense, the Warriors are back in the title talks — not something I could have said with the D’Angelo Russell Warriors.

The Dubs are tapping into a strategy that has worked for them in the past. Trading a young playmaker is never easy or popular, but I ask Dub fans to channel that disgust that many felt when they traded Ellis for Bogut and remember how things worked out in the end.

Hell, this plan might crash and burn, but at least there is hope and optimism. With Russell, that hope was waning, if existent at all.

Next. Top 25 Golden State Warriors in franchise history. dark

While NBA Twitter and talk show ‘pundits’ are laughing now — just as they did with the Monta trade — I think it’s the Warriors who will get the final laugh, and I sure hope I’m right.

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