D’Angelo Russell says he could feel big shift coming with Nets

D’Angelo Russell is now a member of beef Golden State Warriors, and he has a chance to shine on a team that desperately needs his services in lieu of Klay Thompson. Russell was a breakout star for the Brooklyn Nets last season, and with the team in the running for Kevin Durant, he apparently could feel a shift when a potential trade began to materialize.

Speaking this week, Russell said that he never knew for certain that Brooklyn was looking to send him to the West Coast, but that he had a feeling when interpersonal relationships started to change in tone as the season wound down.

Via Twitter:

As the Warriors season gets started, D'Angelo Russell (@Dloading) looks back with @TermineRadio and @GregAnthony50 on how he ended up with Golden State#DubNation pic.twitter.com/bcxXauGt0L

— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) October 28, 2019

“You see the same players, you see the same coaches, you see the same trainers every day, so when they start to act a little different, you’ll recognize it. You know that. I could feel it, and I just kind of played the professional route. [I] came in, got my work in every day, and just controlled what I could control.”

The Warriors are going to struggle this season, but it won’t be due to Russell. The team is exceptionally thin, and it doesn’t look like they have the talent required to run the same kind of defensive schemes they have in the past when their stars are out of the game.

Steve Kerr will try to stagger his lineups so he has some kind of organizational consistency, but Golden State will need all they can get from Russell. At this juncture, it’s probably best for all parties that the split was made given that Russell has a chance to shine and the Nets got an all-time great in Durant.