D’Angelo Russell On Playing Shooting Guard: ‘I’m A Basketball Player’
D’angelo Russell On Playing Shooting Guard: ‘i’m A Basketball Player’
Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

No member of the Los Angeles Lakers young core has come under more scrutiny over the past couple of years than second-year point guard D’Angelo Russell. While he has been extremely inconsistent in his young career, Russell showed his outstanding potential on Sunday night.

Against the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers, Russell scored a career-high 40 points to go along with six assists. This came in Russell’s return to the starting lineup after coming off the bench the last couple of games.

With he and Jordan Clarkson starting in the backcourt, Russell took on more of the shooting guard role while Clarkson handled point guard duties. But according to the Lakers official Twitter, Russell doesn’t really care about positions:

The good thing about the Russell and Clarkson pairing is that they are both interchangeable as far as positions go. Both are capable of running the point and initiating the offense or playing off the ball and finding creases in the defense to attack.

In this day and age, positions are becoming less important as more players are becoming comfortable playing wherever they need to at the time. The Lakers have experimented with this themselves as rookie Brandon Ingram has often operated as the point guard despite technically being the small forward, or even the power forward based on height.

The most important thing for the Lakers and Russell is to figure out where he is most comfortable and keeping him in those positions and situations. Nights like this show what Russell is capable of and the Lakers will need more of that moving forward, regardless of what position he is playing.

You May Also Like

Lakers News: Lonzo Ball Joins LeBron James And Chris Paul, Among Others, With All-Around Effort Against Kings

For the first time in his last nine games played, Los Angeles Lakers rookie point guard Lonzo Ball did not score in…

Lakers News: Rob Pelinka ‘Thrilled’ To Introduce JJ Redick As Next Head Coach

Monday featured a new chapter of the Los Angeles Lakers franchise by introducing their new head coach JJ Redick…

Lakers Player Of The Week: Brandon Ingram Finding Consistency That’s Eluded Him

When Brandon Ingram was selected by the Los Angeles Lakers with the No. 2 pick in the 2016 Draft, he joined the team with very high expectations. There were experts who…

Lakers News: Anthony Davis Credits Trainers & Offseason Work After Playing Career-High 76 Games

The 2023-24 season was arguably the best season that Los Angeles Lakers star Anthony Davis since putting on…