Tag: D’Angelo Russell

JJ Redick criticized D’Angelo Russell for lacking competitiveness and attention to detail

This could be a BIG issue for the Lakers.

During a Los Angeles Lakers loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, head coach JJ Redick played starting guard D’Angelo Russell for limited minutes.

After the game during his media availability, Redick was not shy about why he made the decision. According to the first-year head coach, he did not see a level to “compete” and an “attention to detail” from Russell when he was on the court against Memphis.

Redick added that he has spoken to Russell about this for the past few weeks and noted that while the guard has been “really good” about this at times, he fell short and reverted to “old habits” versus the Grizzlies.

According to Redick, it wasn’t a “punishment” but rather an attempt to win the game.

Lakers guard Gabe Vincent replaced Russell after this defensive mishap in the third quarter:

It is worth noting that Vincent did not play particularly well either, finishing with 6 points (2-of-8 FG) and 2 turnovers and the second-lowest plus-minus of any player on the team.

After a strong start to the season the Lakers (4-4) are now at .500 and have not looked as sharp of late. They will have a chance to bounce back against the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday evening.

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JJ Redick’s Lakers’ starting lineup shows how far the team has already come since Darvin Ham

These are exactly the five players that the Lakers should have in the starting lineup.

Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick revealed the starting lineup for his team heading into his first season with the franchise.

During a podcast appearance with his former ESPN colleague Zach Lowe, the longtime NBA sharpshooter said that he already knows the first unit for the Lakers. It includes Austin Reaves, D’Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura, LeBron James, and Anthony Davis.

James and Davis once again proved themselves as two of the best players in the world during the 2024 Paris Olympics, helping lead Team USA to win a gold medal against France. The rest of the starting lineup for Redick is well-suited to complement those two stars.

As noted by Redick, the five players mentioned above went “23-10” during their games together last season.

When he was head coach of the Lakers, per Basketball-Reference.com, Ham did not play this five-man group until January 21. That realization somehow took until more than halfway through the season.

But starting from when this group began playing together, it became one of the best high-volume five-man lineups in the league.

Los Angeles has outscored opponents by 9.46 points per 100 possessions in the 547 minutes that this unit has played alongside one another, via PBPStats. It is a data-backed group that performs well on both sides of the ball.

Redick is making the right choice to put these players together and we can only imagine how much better these past two seasons could have looked if fans saw more of it from Ham.

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D’Angelo Russell talks about playing in Kobe Bryant’s final NBA game

In Kobe Bryant’s final NBA game, everyone wanted him to shoot as much as possible, and D’Angelo Russell talked about that experience.

Kobe Bryant’s last three NBA seasons were difficult to watch. After tearing his Achilles late in the 2012-13 campaign, he didn’t even remotely resemble the player he had been for nearly a decade and a half, and he had trouble staying healthy.

In those last three years, the late Los Angeles Lakers great averaged 18.9 points a game on 36.6% shooting from the field and 28.5% from 3-point range.

But he left everyone with one last indelible memory of his greatness by pouring in 60 points and leading the Lakers to victory after trailing by 10 with 3:20 left in his last game. While he was relatively efficient, he took a whopping 50 shots, as everyone wanted him to shoot the basketball as often as possible.

D’Angelo Russell, who was then a rookie and in his first stint with the team, recalled how everyone always wanted the ball to go to Bryant in that game while on the “Run Your Race” podcast.

“Bro, when you got the ball and they boo you, you know what that means. Get that ball to that man. He was just trying to score. I remember Julius [Randle] was like, ‘Bro, I’m just trying to get on the board. I’m just trying to score. I ain’t trying to have zero.’ So everybody was just trying to get two, like just get two. He’s gonna get all the other ones.

“So that’s what it was. It was really us running around trying to get him the ball because they were trapping him. He was shooting tough twos like one-footed inside the 3-point line twos, like pull-ups. You just see his face he looked young. He just looked like he had it. I don’t know what was getting him through that [expletive]. He didn’t come out of the game. He was prepared, though. You could see it, mentally, he was prepared. Everybody in the world was at the game. Denzel [Washington], Shaq (Shaquille O’Neal), like everybody.”

In that game, only one other Lakers — guard Jordan Clarkson — managed to get into double figures, and no one on the team other than Bryant attempted more than 10 shots. Russell went 4-of-10 and scored nine points with five assists in 36 minutes.

In a purely sentimental sense, it may have been Bryant’s finest moment or at least fans’ favorite memory of his storied career.

D’Angelo Russell compares his abilities to those of Stephen Curry on social media

Does Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell truly believe his hot streaks are completely comparable to those of Stephen Curry?

D’Angelo Russell is a good basketball player, and at times, he can be a very good player. He just had what may have been the best season of his NBA career in which he averaged 18.0 points and 6.3 assists a game while shooting 41.5% from 3-point range.

His lows, especially come playoff time, can reach the depths of Death Valley. But when he gets hot, he raises the ceiling of the Los Angeles Lakers, as he often did during the second half of this past season.

After Stephen Curry’s outstanding play and searing shooting that helped Team USA win the Olympic gold medal, one fan on social media pointed out that Russell does tend to get hot just like Curry does. Russell then replied in an almost breathtakingly brazen way.

He later deleted that post.

The guard then followed up on that comment with another one in which he again shamelessly promoted himself.

Of course, Russell does have the same abilities to create and shoot off the dribble and hit in catch-and-shoot situations as Curry, CJ McCollum and Damian Lillard. But to suggest he’s on the same level as any of those three stars is laughable.

The fact that he doesn’t quite measure up to that level of productivity is one reason the Lakers have reportedly been looking to trade him this summer. But the rest of the NBA doesn’t seem to have much, if any, interest in him, whether it’s because of his poor play in the postseason, his lack of quickness and defense or possibly his seemingly inflated perception of himself.

D’Angelo Russell: Victor Wembanyama should’ve won several NBA awards

Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell couldn’t help but express how impressed he is with Spurs center Victor Wembanyama during a recent podcast.

The NBA is in very good hands these days, no matter what thinks about the league looking to move away from Turner Sports as a broadcast partner after this coming season. The league is awash in superstar talent like never before, and there are several young stars and superstars ready to take over for the older ones, like the many layers of teeth sharks have.

Victor Wembanyama, the 7-foot-4 French phenom, just wrapped up an immense rookie campaign with the San Antonio Spurs. He averaged 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists and a league-high 3.6 blocked shots in 29.7 minutes a game, and he has barely scratched the surface of his potential.

He was named the Rookie of the Year and was voted onto the All-Defensive First Team. Some felt he should’ve also won the Defensive Player of the Year award instead of the Minnesota Timberwolves’ Rudy Gobert.

Los Angeles Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell is one of those who felt Wembanyama got snubbed in the Defensive Player of the Year voting. In fact, he said the 20-year-old should’ve won a few other league honors while on the “Run Your Race” podcast (h/t The Cold Wire)

“He shoulda been Rookie of the Year, Defensive Player [of the Year], Most Improved, All-NBA … MVP,” said Russell.

Many feel Wembanyama will become the best player in basketball within the next five years and consider him a generational talent. There’s also no doubt some Lakers fans are hoping he will make his way to the Purple and Gold sometime in the future, although that seems extremely unlikely.

D’Angelo Russell on getting instruction from Kobe Bryant as a rookie

D’Angelo Russell may not have understood it then, but he says he now understands the advice Kobe Bryant gave him when he was starting out.

Late Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant went through an impressive metamorphosis throughout his 20-year NBA career. He started out as a young gun who hungered for knowledge and instruction, and he then became the best player in the world for about a decade before evolving into an elder statesman and mentor.

In Bryant’s final season, D’Angelo Russell was a rookie with the Lakers. Russell was then thought to be immature, but the opportunity to team up with and be around the Black Mamba left a lasting impression on him.

While on the “Run your Race” podcast, Russell said that while Bryant’s advice went over his head at the time, it eventually reached him and sunk in.

“Great time. I mean, once again I was just naive to his whole legacy at that time,” said Russell. “I’m 18 bro, so I’m young and dumb. Everything’s funny. Kobe Bryant, let me see if I can make him laugh, just young and dumb bro, so I got it the hard way. He wasn’t laughing, he was serious all the time. But he little bro’d me though, it wasn’t like ‘shoo fly’ it was like ‘lil bro, you shouldn’t do that, think about this.’ And I’m moving at 100 miles an hour and he’d be talking like he was Mr. Miyagi and I’d hear him, and then I’m moving again, and then you’ll get a text from him, and then I’m moving again. It was a blur for real for real, but little things come back and I’ll remember a lot of stuff he was saying.

“It was a good time bro, just to get that your first year. Kind of like being a rookie and getting drafted to a championship team and going on they run after they just won one like Denver, Boston. Those groom you for year four and year five in your career. You gonna know how to move, you gonna know how to approach because you remember dang, Jrue Holiday was doing this. Dang Jaylen Brown was doing this … But I was 18 so the knowledge [Kobe] was kicking was way over my head and I’m looking him in his face like [nodding] and not hearing nothing he’s saying until like years later.”

Partly because of his reputation for being immature, Russell was traded by Los Angeles in 2017 along with big man Timofey Mozgov to the Brooklyn Nets for Brook Lopez and the draft rights to Kyle Kuzma. Afterward, Russell eventually grew and developed his game, and when he returned to the Lakers in February 2023, he was a much more refined player and man.

While the team is reportedly looking to trade him, an argument could be made that if it upgrades by getting a legitimate 3-and-D wing and defensive center, its best move could be to keep Russell, at least for now.

He’s entering the final year of a two-year deal he signed last summer that will pay him $18.7 million this coming season.

D’Angelo Russell was in Paris to support Team USA basketball

The Lakers may be trying to trade D’Angelo Russell, but it didn’t stop him from supporting teammates LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

For months now, there have been many trade rumors involving Los Angeles Lakers starting point guard D’Angelo Russell. The Lakers reportedly tried to trade him several months ago for one-time All-Star Dejounte Murray, and after he opted into the final year of his contract a few weeks ago, they’re still looking to trade him.

He’s a very good player and 3-point shooter during the regular season, but his playoff struggles, as well as his lack of athleticism and defensive ability, have made him prime trade bait in the minds of many.

Yet Russell still made his way to Paris to support Lakers teammates LeBron James and Anthony Davis and take in Team USA basketball’s blowout win over Serbia on Sunday.

Interestingly, Russell was seen sporting a blond hairdo at the game.

He averaged 18.0 points and 6.3 assists a game while shooting 41.5% from 3-point range this past season, and he was red-hot during the second half of the schedule. There’s an argument to be made that perhaps the Lakers shouldn’t be so aggressive in shopping him these days.

At the very least, he could have some real value closer to the trade deadline since his contract will expire after this coming season.

Russell will make roughly $18.7 million for the 2024-25 season.

Buha: Portland doesn’t want D’Angelo Russell in potential Jerami Grant trade

It won’t be easy for the Lakers to land forward Jerami Grant from the Trail Blazers.

Although the Los Angeles Lakers haven’t made any moves this summer other than to sign their two draft picks, there is still time for them to do something to upgrade their roster.

There do have a few rumored trade targets, including Portland Trail Blazers forward Jerami Grant. Grant averaged 21.0 points a game this past season and has become a very good 3-point shooter, not to mention a very capable defender.

Right now, the one big trade chip the Lakers have in the form of a player is starting point guard D’Angelo Russell. Russell recently opted into the final year of his contract, and the team reportedly has been looking to trade him.

But Jovan Buha of The Athletic said in a recent episode of “Buha’s Block” that the Blazers aren’t interested in taking back Russell in a potential trade that would send Grant to Los Angeles (h/t Lakers Daily).

“I’ve heard Portland doesn’t want D-Lo because they have a million guards anyway,” Buha said. “So, it just doesn’t really make sense for them.”

Acquiring Grant would likely be very expensive for L.A., especially in terms of the draft picks such a deal would require. But that is the state of the current NBA, where good players who have never been All-Stars, such as Mikal Bridges, have recently been traded for lots of draft capital.

Buha: Lakers are looking to trade D’Angelo Russell

The Lakers haven’t given up on pulling off a major trade this summer.

The free agent market in the NBA dried up many days ago, and therefore, if the Los Angeles Lakers are to significantly improve their roster, they will have to pull off at least one trade.

They do not have a lot of attractive trade assets. Per league rules, they’re allowed to trade up to two future first-round draft picks right now, and those picks could have some real value.

As far as players are concerned, the Lakers are actively shopping starting point guard D’Angelo Russell, according to The Athletic beat writer Jovan Buha. Russell opted into the final year of his contract earlier this summer, perhaps because the free agent market for him was very tepid.

Russell had an excellent regular season by averaging 18.0 points and 6.3 assists a game while shooting 41.5% from 3-point range. He played particularly well starting in mid-January, as he put up 20.8 points a contest while hitting 43% of his 3-point attempts in his final 41 regular season games.

But once again, he underperformed in the playoffs. In general, he’s seen as too slow for the modern game, as well as lackluster defensively.

If the Lakers somehow manage to upgrade from Russell by getting another ball-handling, facilitating guard in a potential trade, it could greatly raise their ceiling.

The Lakers have huge salary restrictions after re-signing LeBron James and it’s their own fault

How can the Lakers improve next season with these restrictions?

As expected, the Lakers re-signed LeBron James to a new contract in free agency.

It was one of three biggest moves they have made so far this offseason, including hiring the co-host of his podcast as head coach and drafting his son then offering him a multiyear guaranteed contract. Otherwise, as of when this story was published, fans can expect to look mostly similar to last year.

James will return on a two-year, $104 million contract worth the maximum he could sign. His deal includes a player option in the second season (which means this song and dance can continue next summer) and a no-trade clause.

James signed a max contract after his agent, Rich Paul, said that he would be willing to accept a pay cut if the Lakers could secure certain players around the league during free agency:

“The type of player that James would be willing to make a financial sacrifice for would be an established veteran playmaker such as James Harden or Klay Thompson, or an established big man to play alongside Anthony Davis such as Jonas Valančiūnas, sources told ESPN.”

Harden re-signed with the Clippers, Thompson was included in a sign-and-trade with the Mavericks, and Valančiūnas joined the Wizards. That left the best remaining free agents cupboard fairly empty, so James signed a deal for as much money as he could, which he earned the right to do.

According to ESPN, Paul and Rob Pelinka are “planning to discuss” the possibility of James potentially taking “$1 million or so” below the max. Until that happens, though, it looks like trouble for Los Angeles.

Now that D’Angelo Russell accepted his player option to return to Los Angeles, the Lakers are currently in the punitive second apron of the luxury tax.

Due to the restrictions of the first apron, the front office would have a very unrealistic challenge to clear at least $25 million in salary to access the $12.8 million non-tax mid-level exception.

But they have even more harsh restrictions in the second apron, such as an inability to acquire a player (including a potentially appealing free agent like DeMar DeRozan) in a sign-and-trade.

Unless they significantly reduce payroll, they are also restricted from using the $5.2 million taxpayer mid-level exception.

As of right now, without salary dumping players in a trade, the Lakers can essentially only sign minimum players or re-sign their own players from last season (such as Taurean Prince) if they want to add to their roster.

Perhaps this team improves with new coaching and gets solid contributions from rookie Dalton Knecht or a healthy Gabe Vincent. Otherwise, however, there is little reason to expect this team to look any better than they did as a play-in team in 2023-24.

There is no one to blame but themselves for the situation getting this dire.

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