Trade Shows Lakers Never Understood What they Had in D’Angelo Russell
After just two years with the Los Angeles Lakers, D’Angelo Russell was shipped out for, Brook Lopez and a late first round pick.
The news that came out of Los Angeles on Tuesday wasn’t the news many fans were expecting to hear. A report from ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne and Marc Stein came out early on Tuesday, stating that the Lakers “were engaged in Paul George trade discussions” leading up to Thursday’s draft. Jordan Schultz of the Huffington Post added in a tweet that a deal involving George and the Lakers could get done the same day.
It was finally going to happen. The Lakers were going to get their super star.
While there’s still a real chance of that happening over the next couple of days, it wasn’t the trade that was announced Tuesday afternoon.
Just two years ago, the Lakers drafted D’Angelo Russell with the second overall pick in the draft with the hope that he would blossom into the NBA’s next star point guard. A 6-foot-5 guard with elite court vision and knack for putting the ball in the basket, Russell had almost all of the tools to make it in Los Angeles. Almost.
However, in his first season alone, he had to deal with a hard nosed, old school coach in Byron Scott, an 82-game long Kobe Bryant farewell tour and a scandal that tarnished his reputation. That was just his rookie season.
His sophomore season promised more, with head coach Luke Walton advocating a more exciting, modern offense spearheaded by the crafty 21-year-old point guard. The results were mixed. Injuries prevented Russell from getting into a rhythm early in the season, as did his fluctuating role in Walton’s rotation. Despite this, Russell showed enough to justify keeping him around for the long haul.
In just his second season Russell became the first player to average 15 points, 3 assists and 3 rebounds per game while playing under 30 minutes per game. Russell also became the only 20-year-old in league history to have made seven or more 3-pointers in a game. He did this three times in his two years with the Lakers, with his latest time ironically being against his new team, the Brooklyn Nets.
None of it mattered, though. D’Angelo Russell was doomed from the moment he stepped foot on the hardwood at the Lakers practice facility in El Segundo.
Leading up to the draft in 2015, the Lakers were favorites to land Duke’s Jahlil Okafor, who was coming off of a national championship run with the Blue Devils. A legit 7-footer with advanced post moves and a nice, soft touch around the rim, Okafor would finally fill the hole the Lakers had been unable to fill since Shaq’s high-profile departure in 2004.
Fans had their hearts set on Okafor, and had them broken when the Lakers opted to take Russell instead.
While Russell was struggling in Los Angeles his rookie season, Okafor was putting up big numbers, eventually ending the season averaging 17.5 points and 7 rebounds and 1 block per game. Okafor, alongside Rookie of the Year Karl-Anthony Towns, became the first rookie since Pau Gasol to put up that impressive stat line.
Translation: D’Angelo Russell was a bust and Jahlil Okafor was a star.
In hindsight, that might sound a bit silly, but it was the narrative that surrounded him at the time and has arguably followed him since.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about Russell is how easy it was to root against him. He was cocky, condescending and often gave the media a difficult time answering questions following games. His maturity, or lack thereof, was a contributing factor to his departure, according to Bleacher Report’s Kevin Ding.
In the piece Ding mentions, he cites the team’s issues with Russell’s “know-it-all” attitude and “inconsistent professionalism.” The front office was waiting on Russell to flip the switch and become the leader they needed him to be on the court and it never happened.
Let me go through that one more time.
The front office was disappointed that D’Angelo Russell, who at 21 years old is only a year and a few months older than the projected No. 1 pick in the draft Markelle Fultz, wasn’t ready to lead a team without a stable front office or head coaching situation in his second year in the league.
But sure, Russell was the problem.
Moving forward, the front office will likely hand the keys over to UCLA’s Lonzo Ball, who has already stated he can be the leader the Lakers need.
“They have a lot of really good players, I just think they need a leader. A point guard and I feel like I bring that to the team,” Ball said after his first pre-draft workout with the Lakers.
If not Ball, then the Lakers will chase bigger fish in free agency, starting with Paul George, who is reportedly adamant on returning to his hometown to lead his childhood Lakers back to relevancy. The trade, which landed them Brook Lopez and the No. 27 selection in this week’s draft, also ridded them of Timofey Mozgov’s four-year, $64 million contract.
With Mozgov’s contract off their books and Lopez’s contract up at the end of the season, the Lakers will be able to chase marquee free agents like George, LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, DeMarcus Cousins and DeAndre Jordan when they hit the open market next summer.
If the Lakers decide they don’t want to wait to sign George next summer and end up trading for him before Thursday night’s draft, they could potentially open two max slots for next summer, assuming Jordan Clarkson or Luol Deng are involved in any deal they make.
All things considered, the Lakers could have done worse with the trade. They landed another first round pick, a center who can block shots and space the floor and found a home for a contract they couldn’t wait to get rid of. However, it’s tough knowing that this could have all been avoided if it were not for some poor decisions made by the former front office management.
D’Angelo Russell will be fine in Brooklyn, surrounded by talented young pieces in Caris Levert and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, two wing defenders that will do a good job hiding Russell’s deficiencies on that end of the floor. Russell will also have the privilege of being coached by Kenny Atkinson, who has prioritized player development since his arrival in Brooklyn.
Fans at the Barclays Center will get a taste of what Lakers fans took for granted for the last two years. Ice in his veins and all.
