NBA: 6 biggest risers and fallers entering the 2019-20 season

D’Angelo Russell – Golden State Warriors

It’s 2019 and we now live in a world where there were real discussions about whether or not the Nets should build around Russell or the man they eventually chose, Kyrie Irving. The crazy part though is that those discussions were actually valid because of Russell’s production and Irving’s strange year with Boston.

Juxtapose that with what we thought of them last year. Russell was an inefficient scorer with a history of being a knucklehead (this might be the first time I’ve ever said that word) and Irving was supposed to put the Celtics over the top after coming back from his injury. Fast forward to now and suddenly Irving seems like the bigger distraction than Russell, something not many would have seen coming.

Russell is coming off of his first all-star game appearance and his numbers went through the roof last year. Not only was Russell a much more efficient scorer than he’s ever been, but all reports indicate that he was a great teammate too. That might not seem like much, but for a guy who’s most notable achievement up until this year was breaking up Swaggy P and Iggy Azalea, that’s kind of a big deal.

Russell will now be with the Warriors, and there are question marks about how he’s going to fit in with that group. I’m personally a little skeptical about this being the new D’Angelo Russell and fear that it may be more of an outlier, but either way, his production warranted his deal and he’s now rightfully viewed as a very valuable young player in the league.