D’Angelo Russell didn’t complain about being moved to a reserve role for Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals, but he also didn’t support the decision, according to Matt Peralta of Lakers Nation.
Coach Darvin Ham made the change in hopes of sparking the Lakers, who were trailing 3-0 in the series. Russell saw just 15 minutes off the bench in the final game — scoring four points with two rebounds and two assists — as L.A. was swept out of the playoffs.
“I mean, it was tough,” Russell said. “It was tough to agree with it obviously, but in a short period of time to not become a distraction to your teammates and to everybody else that’s preparing just like you to get the one goal done which is win. I knew that was where you had to be professional. You can’t be a distraction at this point of the season and things like that, so that’s kind of how I went about it. I wanted to be professional and try to dominate my minutes when there were minutes for me.”
Russell fit in well with the Lakers after being acquired from Minnesota in February, and he was effective in the first two rounds of the playoffs. He was never able to find his shot against Denver though, connecting at just 32.3% from the field in the series. The Nuggets also targeted him relentlessly on defense.
Fans and the media were calling for Ham to pull Russell out of the starting lineup earlier, but a report last week said there were concerns that the team might “lose” Russell if that happened, meaning he could become possibly become disconnected from the team ahead of free agency.
Russell will be unrestricted this summer after making $31.4MM this season. He is eligible for an extension through June 30 worth up to $67.5MM over two years, but the Lakers don’t appear to be willing to approach that number.
You can’t play him to win a playoff game. And he’s worth up to 67.5 mill over two yrs.
So now you now why there are so many Busters in sports …….. why would I even want him on my team at 5 mill.
NBA owners have to be the dumbest mfkrs around.
The salary levels are troubling. He was bad in Minnesota. He was horrible in the playoffs for the Lakers. Guys keep getting “rewarded” with fat guaranteed contracts after poor play. Meanwhile, minimum salary guys like Gabe Vincent are among the producers now.
That’s an excellent point. It’s why Heat have success. They look for dogs with talent and develop it. Then these guys play with a chip. And play for the help they got. Where other teams try and use money. Like Knicks did under Dolan. Heat go the other way.
Pay him to get you to the playoffs.
Bingo
Yeah he’s responsible for Minny not KAT. The Lakers not AD or Bron. The Nets and their young core. Only plays for a contract. And now he’s been exposed. Not ever getting paid again.
Lakers really need to find someone who can play D and knock down and open 3…
Dlo can’t reliably do either…
.414 for the Lakers and .396 overall on the season is pretty reliable from deep.
Regular season is different from the playoffs though. During the Nuggets series D’Lo was hunted on defense and it also affected his performance on offense
He’s streaky…
He can have good games but there will be too many nights where he can’t..
The Lakers need a player that will hit 3-4 a night and play D… Not 6 one night none the next..
He helped the team reach the playoffs. Had a couple of great games versus Memphis and Warriors.
Some people have a really short memory.
He has a bad series against the Nuggets. Not the end of the world. Matchups and playoffs. That’s how it is.
And D’Lo, It was also tough for us Lakers fans. Watching you brick everything and get eaten alive on the defensive end. Gotta find out what happened and how you can avoid going through that again.
Hope you resign and give it another shot. On a reasonable contract and better prepared to play Murray and the Nuggets. They made you look foolish.
Doesn’t matter what he did in a couple of weeks. Anyone can get hot or lucky in the regular season.
What matters is what he can do going forward. He’s a solid scorer and an awful defender. That has bench player written all over it. He definitely shouldn’t get more than like $5-10 mil per year unless he works on his defense.
He had a couple of great games against Memphis and Golden State, in the Postseason.
But I agree with you 100% about having to work on his defense.
The problem is that in his exit interview he pretty much said that he won’t be working on that in the offseason.
With that said, 10-15mm/year sounds right.
To be a starter in the playoffs you need to have more great games than bad games…
You need to move the needle every contest…
Dlo is a poor mans Jamal Crawford at best… Might take over a game, but best used off the bench with other options in front of him…
I agree, The playoffs is all about match ups, consistency and defense.
They are always ready with their pitch forks
He was so bad in Minnesota that the Timberwolves would rather have a much older Mike Conley. DLO isn’t a leader or a clutch performer.
^^^^This. Laker fans were fooled haha
DLo is one of those guys who if you watch him on the right day you will think you are watching an elite offensive player. The problem is that on too many other days he is terrible on both ends of the floor. That is the kind of guy who should be coming off the bench and be paid accordingly.