The Los Angeles Lakers made some major changes at the trade deadline last season, which turned their year around. Players like Russell Westbrook and Patrick Beverley were shipped out with the likes of D’Angelo Russell, Jarred Vanderbilt and Malik Beasley joining the purple and gold for the stretch run.
The Lakers would go on an outstanding stretch run with Russell being a major catalyst. The point guard averaged 17.4 points on 48.4% shooting and 41.4% from 3-point range in 17 games with the Lakers, both of which were career-high percentages. In fact, even when adding his time with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Russell still shot a career-best from the field and 3-point line in 2022-23.
And this is something that has gone completely unnoticed and uncredited in the eyes of Beverley and Russell. The two are close as they were former teammates in Minnesota and on a recent edition of The Pat Bev Podcast with Rone, Beverley spoke up on the lack of credit Russell received for his regular season performance, which he seemed to agree with, via LakersGuru:
Pat Bev says D’lo had has best shooting season ever and nobody is talking about it
D’lo: “Nobody talking about it. What I gotta do Pat?”
Pat Bev: Get more techs! pic.twitter.com/LpebwBqpzQ
— 🏆LakersGuru🏆 (@GuruLakers) August 2, 2023
Unfortunately for Russell, his playoff performance completely overshadowed his impressive regular season run. Most tend to remember a player’s most recent performances and for Russell, the postseason was one to forget.
Russell averaged just 13.3 points in the playoffs with his 3-point percentage dropping to an abysmal 31%. In the Western Conference Finals, it got even worse with Russell averaging just 6.3 points in the Lakers’ sweep to the Denver Nuggets, shooting 32.3% from the floor and 13.3% from deep as Darvin Ham would bench him in favor of Dennis Schroder for the final contest.
While it may be unfair for his regular season run to be completely forgotten, players will always be judged for their performance on the biggest stage and Russell simply came up short. But the Lakers still see value in him, which is why they re-signed him on a new two-year deal and if he can put forth another regular season performance like he did down the stretch last year, Lakers fans will give him the credit he deserves.
D’Angelo Russell believes ‘sky is the limit’ for Lakers roster
Russell certainly believes the Lakers as a whole have the chance to be amongst the top teams in the NBA following their offseason. Bringing back the same core while making some solid additions, Russell has high hopes for this team.
Russell noted that the Lakers have a lot of capable bodies who can come through, and as long as everyone is on the same page willing to do everything needed for the team to succeed, the sky is the limit for what this team can accomplish.
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