Less than two years after being traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, D’Angelo Russell is on the move again. He was sent to the Brooklyn Nets, a team he had previously played for, along with forward Maxwell Lewis and three second-round draft picks for Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton.
This trade ends Russell’s second stint with the Lakers. During his first stint, he had a much-publicized incident with then-teammate Nick Young, who took a shot at him on X (formerly known as Twitter).
AND STAY OUT… Dnt bring yo ass back to LA
— Nick Young (@NickSwagyPYoung) December 30, 2024
Russell was originally drafted by the Lakers with the No. 2 overall pick in 2015. At the time, it was expected that he would give them a star-level player for many years to come as they started to rebuild during the waning days of Kobe Bryant’s career.
But Russell struggled in his first two seasons, and his reputation took a major hit when he recorded a video where he got Young to admit that he was cheating on his then-fiancée Iggy Azalea, a rapper from Australia. Azalea broke up with Young afterward, and it left Russell with a reputation as someone who cannot be trusted to maintain the “bro code.”
The Lakers sent Russell to the Nets in 2017, and he started to blossom there. He went on a hot streak during the 2018-19 season that helped earn him his first selection to the NBA All-Star Game.
He then got shipped to the Golden State Warriors in the summer of 2019, only to be jettisoned to the Minnesota Timberwolves just months later. When he returned to Los Angeles in February 2023, he helped the Purple and Gold go on a major late-season run that culminated in a trip to the Western Conference Finals.
Russell is a player who makes a positive impact quite often thanks to his ability to get hot offensively, especially from the outside. But he has a history of playing poorly in the playoffs, and he has always had trouble staying in front of his man defensively.
In Brooklyn, he will presumably be able to get off more shots and inflate his scoring numbers. He got moved to the bench early this season after starting the vast majority of his previous games during his second stint with the Lakers.
