After initially drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers back in 2015, D’Angelo Russell became a key piece of their rebuild as a No. 2 overall pick. Having a point guard that could score at all three levels with the ability to get teammates involved is something the Lakers hadn’t had in years and were trying to recreate.
However, after some immature actions off the floor with then teammate Nick Young, that signified the beginning of the end of Russell’s tenure in L.A. But after progressing through his NBA career and maturing, it was clear that the Lakers were getting a different version of Russell when they traded for him in 2023.
But some shortcomings in the playoffs last and this year, Russell’s future with L.A. is in question once again. Adding insult to injury, Young spoke out about Russell’s play saying that the purple and gold cannot put faith in the 28-year-old point guard, clearly still having not forgotten about the incident when they were teammates, via djvlad:
“I was making fun of (head coach Darvin) Ham, but the Lakers just didn’t have the staff, the team. They depended on DLo, and that’s just – you’re asking to lose. You’re asking to lose right there, placing your faith in that… What do you expect? They put their faith in the snitch, and the snitch let you down.”
The first round was certainly a prime opportunity for Russell to expel his struggles in last year’s Western Conference Finals, but he was largely unable to do that. While the Ohio State product did put together solid performances in Game 2 and 4 against the Denver Nuggets, he notably put up zero points in Game 3 and struggled to shoot efficiently in the other games.
Despite some significant time passing since Young and Russell’s dispute, it seems clear that the former Laker is not yet forgiving. Perhaps this is something that gets ironed out outside of social media, but who knows what will materialize from these comments, if anything at all. Nonetheless, L.A. needs to evaluate Russsell and a possible new contract and decide if this is the route they want to go down once again for the 2024-25 season.
D’Angelo Russell believes he had ‘hell of a year’ for Lakers
While there are some like Nick Young who are outspoken critics of D’Angelo Russell’s postseason performance this year, the Lakers starting point guard seems to disagree with that assessment. After the conclusion of the season, when asked to reflect on the year that he had, Russell said he believes he had a ‘hell of a year’ for the purple and gold.