D’Angelo Russell has only played six games for the Lakers this season but his impact has been more than noticeable.
Russell notched a season-high 33 points in yesterday’s loss to the Knicks and is averaging 19.2 points, 6.2 assists and four rebounds per game for the Lakers.
The 27-year-old was traded from LA to Brooklyn in 2017 for causing issues within the team and now that he’s back, he seems to be playing with renewed purpose.
“D’Angelo Russell very much wanted a second chance in LA with the Lakers and you’ve seen the impact he made coming back against Toronto the other night, playing great in a win, and again tonight,” ESPN”s Adrian Wojnarowski said at halftime yesterday. “He wants to be the point guard of the future for this organization. He’ll be a free agent this summer.”
As it stands, the Lakers only have LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Jarred Vanderbilt and Max Christie under contract for next year, and in theory, they could free up around $32 million in cap space to chase a big-name player.
However, their current new-look team is already performing well and resigning some existing players like Russell could well pay off.
“Man if we get one training camp under our belt with this group, the sky’s the limit,” Russell said on Friday. “With that being said, we don’t have a training camp under our belt, and the sky’s still the limit.
“Our guys are ready, our guys are hungry, and as an organization, these fans are going to get us through a lot of it with their energy. So we’re just ready to compete and ready to return the favor for the organization.”