Mavericks guard is already alienating team's fans

Russell tweeted about the Green Bay Packers' trade for superstar pass-rusher Micah Parsons and tagged his fellow Packers fan — and once-and-future teammate — Anthony Davis in the message. Unfortunately, Russell may have forgotten that he now plays in Dallas, a city that has now seen two of the best players in its respective sports traded out of town in recent months.

Davis himself came to Dallas in the trade that sent Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers. Now, Parsons will be playing for one of the Cowboys rivals, the Packers.

There’s no particular reason that Russell is a Packers fan, nor is there one for Davis choosing the Cheesehead life. Davis didn’t have an NFL team upon coming to the NBA but went with the Packers, who had a few players that he knew. 

Davis has now embraced his Packer fandom, which was cemented by an epic trip to Lambeau Field. He also routinely wears Packers gear to the arena and doesn’t want to talk to reporters if the Packers are playing.

But Davis also seems to know how to root for his favorite team without annoying the home fans, a lesson that Russell has never managed to learn in 10 NBA seasons. In his brief stint with the Golden State Warriors, Russell wore an Aaron Rodgers Packers jersey to a news conference the day before the NFC championship game in 2020.

The San Francisco 49ers won that game, and less than three weeks later, Russell had been traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Perhaps there’s a reason that the Mavericks are the fifth team he’s played for in his NBA career, along with two separate stints playing for the Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn Nets.

In his first go-round with the Lakers, Russell secretly recorded teammate Nick Young talking about other women while engaged to Iggy Azalea. Two seasons after he was the No. 2 pick in the 2015 draft, Russell was traded.

Russell has even managed to antagonize NBA teams he wasn't playing for yet. During his free agency in 2019, Russell took a helicopter ride with Timberwolves executives. While they were in the air, the Minnesota brass learned that Russell had already agreed to sign with the Warriors, which made for an awkward landing.

Now, Russell has made an enemy of his new fans before playing a single game on the court. However, he wouldn’t be the first Maverick to openly diss the Cowboys in front of their fans. 

That was Darrell Armstrong, who, after the Cowboys lost to Washington in 2005, grabbed the arena microphone in Dallas and praised Washington. The NFL loyalty cost Armstrong a $1K fine, though he later convinced future Maverick Kristaps Porzingis to become a Washington fan.

Russell's social media transgression may be forgotten by the time that the NBA season starts in October. But if not, Russell should know that, in 2025, teams in Dallas haven't hesitated to trade much better players than him.