D’Angelo Russell has watched his nаme swirl in trade rumors for the entire 2023-24 season, and the Los Angeles Lakers will have a tough decision to make on the future of the 27-year-old ahead of the impending NBA Trade Deadline.
The player from Louisville, Kentucky, has spent a lot of time on the bench this season, but he’s been great since he got back into the starting position. Russell has scored 24.22 points per game over the last five games.
But now that Russell is back, what seemed like an easy deal has become more difficult.
If the Lakers trade for Russell, ESPN’s Dave McMenamin said on Tuesday, “They doubt they’ll be able to find another player whose floor spacing and court awareness on offense fully complement [LeBron] James and [Anthony] Davis the way Russell does.”
“It will soon be clear whether Russell’s better play lately will help him stay on the team or whether this hоt streak is just making him more valuable as a trade chip.”
It’s no sеcrеt that DLo has a great deal; McMenamin says he’s only making $17.3 million this season and has a $18.7 million player option for next year.
The NBA insider said, “However, he is also the same player who was benched in the conference finals last season, and the Lakers got him to waive the implied no-trade clause his contract included when they re-signed him last summer. That’s not something you push for as an organization if you’re sure you’ll want to keep the player until the deadline.”
Anthony Davis addresses rumors
After all the deal reports that have been going around since Sunday, February 8, Anthony Davis had this to sаy about them: “I can’t change what the front office does, but that’s not something we should talk about in the locker room.” The only thing we care about right now is getting wins with what we have.”When players hear all the rumors and outside noise, it can create some, I don’t want to sаy ‘division’ in the locker room. It gets into the heads of players who are involved in those rumors and just makes them wonder what’s going to happen.” “I think we’re trying to do that right now. The best thing to do is not worry about it at all and just play.”The Lakers have been 500 in recent games, and it will be interesting to see what the front office does before the deadline. Will D’Angelo Russell still be in L.A. on February 9?