Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell has been facing severe backlash for his on-court behavior during his team’s Game 3 playoff loss to the Nuggets on April 25. During a timeout late in the fourth quarter, Russell was seen sitting away from the team huddle even as coach Darvin Ham drew up a play for the team.
To make matters worse, Russell was seen scrolling his phone while munching on a snack. The viral clip has understandably left Lakers fans and analysts enraged, especially since Russell went scoreless in the game, going 0-for-7 from the field.
Former NBA star Jay Williams let it rip on Russell on the April 26 episode of “Get Up” on ESPN.
“I don’t know if he’s on his cellphone, or if he’s eating snacks — I don’t know what the hell it is,” Williams said. “As a former player, I always try to defend players and talk about things from their position. But while you’re in a playoff battle, even if there’s only 3.5 minutes left and your team is out of it, you still have one more game left.
“For D’Angelo Russell to check out of a game that way, and not even be involved in the team huddle, gives me major concern,” Williams said.
Playoff Meltdown
Wiliams then pointed to Russell being “a detriment to the Lakers” in two of the three playoff games with his poor shooting and inability to play defense. As such, Williams feels the best course of action for the Lakers would be to get rid of Russell
“I don’t want him on my roster,” Williams fumed. “Because I want everyone pulling in the same direction, and if things get hard, and you’re not willing to lean in more, I can’t have you be a part of what we’re trying to build.”
NBA analyst Stephen A Smith also sounded off on Russell being a bad teammate on the April 26 episode of “First Take” on ESPN.
Deja Vu for Lakers Fans
To Williams’ point, Russell has been a no-show for the Lakers in two of the three games against the Nuggets, shooting 32.6 percent from the field and 30.8 percent from three-point range. In comparison, he shot 45% from the field and 41% from deep in the regular season, and even set a Lakers franchise-high for threes made in a season.
Russell’s timely drop in numbers has given many Lakers fans a flashback to last year’s Western Conference Finals when he averaged 6.3 points at 32/13 shooting splits. Russell’s play was so poor he became unplayable midway through the series.
Lakers in Tough Situation
In a perfect world, the Lakers would love to flip Russell and possibly Austin Reaves for a player such as Donovan Mitchell or Trae Young — two superstar guards reportedly available via trade in the 2024 offseason.
However, the pathway to forming a new Big 3 isn’t that cut and dry for the Lakers. For one, Russell is expected to decline his player option worth $18.7 million for the 2024-25 season, making him an unrestricted free agent. As such, the Lakers won’t be able to use him as a trade chip unless he agrees to a sign-and-trade to a new team.
Also, the trade values of Rui Hachimura and Austin Reaves have dropped in light of their own playoff woes against the Nuggets.
Could the Lakers take the drastic step of trading Anthony Davis? Some believe that could be their best option to upgrade the roster to compete with the juggernaut Nuggets.
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