With the trade deadline steadily approaching on Feb. 8, the Los Angeles Lakers have found themselves in plenty of rumors, specifically involving D’Angelo Russell.
For a team that features LeBron James and Anthony Davis, having a 22-22 record is not ideal, especially in a competitive Western Conference.
General manager Rob Pelinka must explore every avenue to potentially improve the team after a sluggish start to this season. Russell has been at the forefront of these discussions due to the $17.3 million contract he signed in the offseason.
However, in the last five games, Russell has been on a heater, averaging 27.2 points and 6.4 assists while knocking down an impressive 53.7% from the 3-point range. This isn’t the 27-year-old’s first rodeo when it comes to trade rumors, but head coach Darvin Ham commends Russell for being a professional despite all the noise.
“First of all, he’s done a wonderful job being a pro about all of it,” Ham said. “There’s so much stuff that we can’t control. With that said, he’s just really locked in on his game, focused on ways he can help the team. Communicating, competing. Tonight was one of the most complete games I’ve seen him play since he’s been back in a Laker uniform. He was great on defense, great with his activity, great on and off the ball offensively. He was huge.
“It was a great way to respond. The Trail Blazers have a certain record but at the end of the day, they still have a lot of firepower over there in terms of Brogdon and Simons and Jerami, Deandre, all those guys. So it was a great bounce-back win for us, regardless of the opponent just playing the way we know we need to play on both sides of the ball,” he said. “He was right at the forefront of all that, him, Bron and those guys. It was great to have Cam back, Rui, all of those guys really pitched in. It was a total team effort.”
It must certainly be a hard time for Russell to be in the midst of potentially being traded again, but Ham has his back as his teammates do as well.
Since returning for his second tour of duty with the Lakers, when Russell is clicking offensively, he propels the team to a whole another level and also factors in his much-improved playmaking. Whether a trade is on the horizon or not, Russell is maintaining a professional attitude while finding his groove on the offensive end.
Finding third team for D’Angelo Russell is holdup on Dejounte Murray trade
The name that has come up the most as of late is Atlanta Hawks guard Dejounte Murray and the Lakers seem to be in active pursuit of the 27-year-old. However, the reason a trade has not been agreed to yet is finding a third team to take on Russell has been a challenge due to his player option and fit with Trae Young.
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