Healthy point guards and the Brooklyn Nets just don’t go together.
Jeremy Lin is already done for the season and dealt with hamstring injuries for most of last year. Now D’Angelo Russell is set to join him on the extended shelf.
The Nets announced on Friday, just before their win over the Utah Jazz, that Russell underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee. He is expected to endure a protracted stay on the bench, but general manager Sean Marks is hoping he’ll be ready to return sometime this season, per the New York Post‘s Brian Lewis:
While general manager Sean Marks said “the plan is for [Russell] to return this season” — unlike backcourt mate Jeremy Lin — the injury robs the Nets of their two best players for an extended period of time.
“It’s an arthroscopic surgery, so the plan would be for him to return this season,” Marks said of the procedure performed by Dr. Riley Williams III at the Hospital for Special Surgery to remove a loose body from Russell’s knee. “This is the direction that’s best for D’Angelo for this coming season, and for his career.
“It’s definitely frustrating for D’Angelo. I was just with him before. He’s going into this as another challenge. He knows he’ll bounce back from this, and we have no doubts in our mind that he’ll be better and stronger than he was before.”
Russell was having what verged on a career year before going down, averaging 20.9 points, 4.7 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game. His three-point and free-throw clips dropped, but he was shooting a personal-best 46.3 percent overall, thanks in large part to increased accuracy around the rim and just about everywhere inside 16 feet of the basket.
Spencer Dinwiddie will take over starting point guard duties in the meantime. He has been exceptional for the Nets since latching onto the roster during the middle of last season. Russell no doubt has the higher ceiling, but Dinwiddie is, for now, the more well-rounded player. The Nets can stick him on the opposing team’s best scorer, and he doesn’t have as much trouble playing off the ball.
Russell’s absence should also culminate in more minutes for sophomore Isaiah Whitehead, a favorite of head coach Kenny Atkinson. Where the Nets turn from there is unclear. They’ve been reluctant to use Sean Kilpatrick and applying for the Disabled Player Exception probably won’t put them in position to acquire a difference-maker. Look instead for Caris LeVert and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson to see more time as pick-and-roll initiators.
